What do You think about The Shadow Thieves (2007)?
All right, so here's another Percy-Jackson-copy-cat. The back cover is intriguing. It starts off as a typical grumpy redhead finds a cat. Yawn. Then, randomly, her cousin comes for a "vacation," during the school year, and apparently he has magical powers to kill people, and one time she falls in love with someone only to discover he's a bloodthirsty Greek monster. The writing doesn't flow, and the story winds on and on without ever coming to a complete climax: the whole time "shadow monsters" are waiting outside the door of Charlotte's house, and then she has to escape to the underworld where some minor ghost god wants her blood. Literally. To make himself human, he wants Charlotte's blood. Not worth the paper it's printed on.
—Natalie
This was my favorite book for years and even reading it today, I still like it.The first thing that attracted me was the tone. It always seemed a little dark to my younger self, and it's definitely sarcastic, irreverent and fun. It ties Greek myths to the modern day very well - Hades no longer leaves his palace to tour the Underworld, but runs everything as the CEO of a really complicated bureaucracy, the heroine bribes Charon with Fruit Roll-Ups, and the main villain is an Underworld garbageman. It also takes some myths and runs with them into fun darkness, without veering from accuracy, as in the case of the Shadow Thieving itself.And then, there's what always sticks out in my mind when I think of The Shadow Thieves. (Bit of a spoiler.) (view spoiler)[ Near the end of the novel, Charlotte has to fight off two of the villain's creepy clay minions, who are trying to kill her. After successfully killing them instead, she sits down on a rock and starts to cry. As a character, Charlotte is independent, mouthy and brave, but she sits down on a rock and starts to cry. Because...wouldn't you? If you just had to fight for your life against two humanoid golems? And then, when she's had her cry, she gets back up and goes to save the world. Bravery and realism. (hide spoiler)]
—Annabel Thompson
At first I fell in love with the type of voicing this story had, with its intense sarcasm and all, but it grew a little old when the story didn't have more to offer. In the really intense, dark parts, the humor could have been more well-crafted. It brought me right out of the tension, and so later I had to think "Oh yeah, this is a scary part, I forgot!" and had to place myself back in, which shouldn't be.The villain was also a bit cliche, and I would've liked more motive on his part. And character. Sure, he's a bad guy who acts like a gentleman, gets angry at all the right times, but he's just another cardboard villain.There were some good scenes, though, and I did like the mystery of everyone getting sick in the beginning (although I was a little angry when the reason was just told to us, instead of letting the audience try and figure it out for themselves.Anyway, a decent book. I can understand why some people would love the action and the voice, but it didn't really do it for me.
—Nannah
