Title: Shadows
Author: Robin McKinley
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books (Penguin)
Acquired Via: Around the World ARC Tours
Release Date: September 26, 2013
A compelling and inventive novel set in a world where science and magic are at odds, by Robin McKinley, the Newberry-winning author of The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword, as well as the classic titles Beauty, Chalice, Spindle’s End, Pegasus and Sunshine.
Maggie knows something’s off about Val, her mom’s new husband. Val is from Oldworld, where they still use magic, and he won’t have any tech in his office-shed behind the house. But—more importantly—what are the huge, horrible, jagged, jumpy shadows following him around? Magic is illegal in Newworld, which is all about science. The magic-carrying gene was disabled two generations ago, back when Maggie’s great-grandmother was a notable magician. But that was a long time ago.
Then Maggie meets Casimir, the most beautiful boy she has ever seen. He’s from Oldworld too—and he’s heard of Maggie’s stepfather, and has a guess about Val’s shadows. Maggie doesn’t want to know . . . until earth-shattering events force her to depend on Val and his shadows. And perhaps on her own heritage.
In this dangerously unstable world, neither science nor magic has the necessary answers, but a truce between them is impossible. And although the two are supposed to be incompatible, Maggie’s discovering the world will need both to survive.
My Review
I am a long-time fan of Robin McKinley's work, ever since I was in middle school, and I've read quite a few of her novels. (Most of them multiple times, and we're not going to talk about The Hero and the Crown.) When I started Shadows, I had my heart set on the world-building or characters to rival those beloved reads. Instead, I got a story which, if I had to wrap it up with ony one word, is "meh".
