Shadowspell [Paperback]

The Wild Hunt has come to Avalon. Led by Arawn the Erlking, the arrival of the Hunt has struck fear in Avalon's citizens, both mortal and Fae. Dubbed "The Nightmare of Faerie" Arawn and his hunters, while no longer possessing the power to simply hunt at will, are always looking for someone foolish enough to instigate an attack so that they can give chase.

Dana Hathaway, already in hiding from the Queens of Faerie and any assassins they might send, is doing her best to stay as far away from the Wild Hunt as possible. Having witnessed their arrival in Avalon the last thing she wants is to meet this immortal Faerie. There are already enough people who wish her harm, she certainly doesn't need to add to that list, and especially someone as dangerous as the Erlking.

Ever since her arrival in Avalon Dana's luck has run out. Even heavily guarded and kept hidden underground with only limited ventures into town, she manages to run into the Erlking, and on more than one occasion.

Although seemingly coincidental, it quickly becomes apparent that Arawn is very interested in Dana, but his intentions aren't clear. Have the Queens of Faerie hired him to eliminate her as their biggest threat? Did her Aunt Grace play any role in his arrival? Or does he want to use Dana for his own purposes - for her Faeriewalker abilities that will allow him to gain back his power and assassinate the Queens?

One thing is for certain, as long as the Hunt is in Avalon Dana, and everyone she cares about, is not safe.

***

Shadowspell is the second book in the captivating Faeriewalker series. It continues a few weeks after the events in Glimmerglass in which Dana discovered that she had the rare ability to cross between the mortal world and the world of Faerie, bringing technology into Faerie and magic out. Her father has been protecting her to the best of his ability by keeping her hidden underground and monitored around the clock by bodyguards.

With only limited contact with her friend Kimber, even less with her "not" boyfriend Ethan and her defense trainer Keane, Dana is at her wits end. But that all changes with the arrival of the Erlking.

This second installment in the series surpasses the first book by leaps and bounds. The first few chapters re-introduce the reader to this series, giving the lay of the land, but once that's done, it just takes off.

The adventure in this book is tense and exciting, and Dana continues to be feisty, daring and courageous. Once again she has to be self-reliant in order to face her enemies, choose her battles and fight to protect those she cares about.

Written in the first person from Dana's perspective, the story has a nice and easy flow, only interrupted by Dana's wonderfully sarcastic thoughts and comments and by a few tantalizing scenes.

There are a number of stories in this genre that talk of the Erlking and the Wild Hunt, but author Jenna Black gives us a completely different angle on this theme and this character. While Arawn possesses all the nightmare qualities that can be expected of someone who lives for the chase and kill, he has a very enticing and alluring side to his personality, which leads to a rather intense encounter.

Although this is a sequel, readers will not get lost if they haven't read the first book. However reading the first book is recommended to get a better understanding of the characters.

Even though this doesn't end with readers hanging off the side of a cliff (maybe just approaching a precipice) there is so much more story to tell and questions that fans of this series will definitely want answered in the next book in the series, Sirensong.

As other reviews have stated this book is the second in the Faeriewalker series, and I have to say it was an entertaining addition to the series. I found the heroine, Dana, to be spunky and likable, even if her actions were rash at times. The author does a good job of portraying her as a sixteen year old -Dana is a strong character yet she is still ruled by emotions and does not always think though the consequences of her decisions.

My only problem with the series is Dana's love interest Ethan. He seems to be interested in Dana more for his own personal gain than anything else. Plus, I did not find him that likeable based on his actions in the previous book and continued in this book. However, it is nice that the author has Dana recognize these flaws in Ethan rather than have her be unquestioningly besotted with him. I have to admit I prefer Keane and will be interested to see what happens between him and Dana in future books.

Having read both books, I think they're agonizingly dim and paint-by-numbers, but I also thought they'd be harmless fluff for teenage girls who would otherwise be reading gossip magazines. Not after this one. Look, YA and sexual assault do not mix unless you handle it VERY carefully. I have no idea how the author managed to be simultaneously graphic and callous while writing for a young adult audience, but she did. All of the horror, and then not one shred of realistic follow-up.

Moms who are thinking of buying this for your daughters, it's just a stupid book. Every female in the book is a villain of some sort (though without any real authority except homicidal impulses), bar the best-friend character who exists only to talk about boys and tea. The main character spends all of her time being controlled by or lusting after various men. If we were scoring via Bechdel Test here, I think it'd rate a flat zero. And that's when we hit the real crap:

**spoilers**

A major plot point hinges on the virginity of the main character. There's not any assurance that this will be the last attempted rape in the series. As the plot's been set up, it's legitimately a quick fix to just make the main character have sex with someone - I assume the author meant to use this as some sort of verbal chastity belt, causing drama when she WANTS to have sex with someone, but in the meantime? Truly, the most effective line of attack for an enemy would be to rape Dana. In fact, given that the only other option is to go up against an immortal warrior, it would be both a logical and relatively easy choice. Ugh.

But I think what bothers me most is that after being pinned against a wall and nearly raped in front of her friend, Dana just blithely continues on. No one talks to her about it, she spends the rest of the book worrying about the idiot boyfriend, the entire thing gets forgotten. Because it doesn't have to do with boys, the author just doesn't bother to give Dana any sort of reaction. This is completely insane.

I don't know what the fix is here, either. If your kid reads this, she might think it's perfectly natural or even ideal for a woman to have no reaction to a violent sexual attack (or worse, she might think that it's UNnatural to be shaken to your core). For any woman who's spent month or years jumping out of her skin at small subconscious reminders, this is infuriating. And that's why I've ignored any redeeming quality in the writing (the dialog's vapid, but teen-appropriate) to give this a single star. Because after the virginity plot point and having seen how the author handles an attempted rape, I have absolutely no faith that things will improve.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 55 reviews  4.0 out of 5 stars