This book makes me think of jazz hands and Irish accents and magic. All of which is a direct result of the fact that I listened to the audiobook version. The podcast version precisely, where due to the serialized publication method, each chapter had an intro and outro with Celtic music and an overly enthuastic rendition of the title.The audiobook production was actually quite well done. It’s the first time I’ve listened to a book narrated by the author, and it was very pleasant. There was a lot of excitement and variation to the narration, and it’s obvious the author enjoys the story. It helps that he has a natural storytelling voice that fit the story quite well.The story itself was fun and humourous. Poor Conor goes through so much, but he is accompanied by a delightful crew of characters, and everything has a pretty positive spin.This is an adventure worthy of any young reader, while still offering a lot for older readers. I was thoroughly entertained, and have already downloaded the second book. In podiobook format too, so I’m sure I’ll be thinking of jazz hands again. I REALLY enjoyed Shadowmagic!I was skeptical at first....it looked/sounded really dark but it was not!!For me it was Inkheart meets Percy Jackson, meets Harry Potter, meets Lord of the Rings.....and with a little of it's own Shadowmagic flavour!!One of the aspects I appreciated was Conor's age!.....Normally in books these day, main characters are 13-16.....and they usually all fall in love at one moment or other....which can seem really sweet....until you remember that they're 14 and that's not that realistic!I liked that he was 18, it made it all more realistic!.....He was 18 but he wasn't trying to be an adult really, he wasn't going out there to be the hero and kill all the bad guys in his way, even though he had the training to do so....he was mature and sensitive in that way, he wasn't trying too hard either, I liked that! He ad empathy...something that can get lost in heroic novels....when someone is a hero, we don't often get to see the aftermath of their heroics in themselves....what it does to the hero.I loved the mostly easy going nature of it....and just the atmosphere of "The Land"!.....It was a really cool little world, yet also with the evil and darkness you'd find anywhere!I liked the characters....and there was a good amount of suspense, surprises!I think it was well written....the world was described in good detail, it was beautiful, yet even beauty has it's thorns, which we saw.I like the aspect that the "bad" magic was actually used by the good guys and the bad guys used the "good" magic....that was an interesting aspect!I think the book could've been a bit longer....I think things were a tad rushed...Another thing I didn't really like was the cliché struggle between returning to the "Real World" and "The Land"....and the cliché ending/decision...but it was still amazing and I am excited to read the next one!Overall it was a really great read and I was very happy with it, I recommend it, can't wait to read the next one!!
What do You think about Skyggemagi (2010)?
The book was fantastic kept me glued to my kindle. Can't wait to get to read the others!!
—chaia
Read the first couple of chapters, then put it down and forgot about it.
—Thomas12
