Review – In the Shadows by Kiersten White and Jim Di Bartolo (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Horror/Dark Fantasy
Length: 384 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: April 29, 2014
ISBN-13: 978-0545561440
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley
Rating: 4/5 stars

I got a copy of this book to review through NetGalley. This is a creepy novel that alternates between graphic novel format and traditional book format. I ended up enjoying it a lot, but was a bit confused about what was going on for the first section of the book.

The graphic novel portion of this book is all done in pictures and shows a man chasing some creepy people and running into people with completely white eyes. The traditional book portion of the story tells about two brothers Thomas and Charles that have been sent to a small town for the summer in an effort to help Charles’s poor health. They end up staying at an inn where two girls their age live; Cora and Minnie. Cora and Minnie have noticed a lot of strange things happening around town, one of which is the arrival of one of their relations…an older boy named Arthur who has a mysterious past.

I am going to be honest here, it took me a while to get into this book. Up right until the end I would have given it three stars. Then at the end things are so wonderfully and creatively tied together that it just blew me away. The whole thing was very cleverly done.

I was seriously confused for a while trying to figure out how everything was related. Trust me, just go with it, you’ll figure it out. And when you do figure out what is going on you will think “OMG, that is awesome!” Half of it is told in pictures in a wordless graphic novel type of format and half is told traditional book format. The two formats alternate, but it is quickly apparent that they are not telling the same story. The graphic novel portions and traditional book portions do not start at the same place in time…and to prevent spoilers that’s all I am going to say about that.

The story is mostly a dark mystery surrounding some strange dark events. Thomas, Charles, Arthur, Cora, and Minnie set out to solve this mystery…especially when they find out their lives are at stake. It’s a dark story involving demons, dark magic, and sacrifice.

All of our characters are engaging, although we don’t get to know any of them all that well. It was a fun read. The thing that really sets this book apart from others is the way the graphic novel part and the written part come together at the end in a very clever way. This is a book that keeps you on your toes and really makes you think.

Overall this was a very creative book and a very interesting read. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read some a bit different and clever. I would especially recommend if you are a fan of dark mysteries involving black magic.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Ebook Reading Challenge
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge