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whatthehelliknow's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.5
haleymicheled's review
2.0
It breaks my heart because I loved this series so much as a kid, but there are so many plot holes and missed opportunities in this book. Many characters' motivations make no sense and so many side plots are never pursued again after being mentioned once. Happy to have some closure but disappointed overall.
shysmiler91's review
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
karen_the_baroness's review against another edition
5.0
The Shadow by Marianne Curley is about the aftermath of what happened in The Key and their new threat.
We have The Named, which has at least three different points of view chapters but not a whole lot with two of them. I loved going to the different points of view for this group as it seemed appropriate, especially what was happening at the time that warranted that character to have its own chapter. We are in Ethan's head a lot more than we are in any of the others of the Named, and that's because he is our main character of the Named. Ethan is dealing with the aftermath of losing his soulmate. I was rooting for Ethan to get a semblance of normality back after losing Rochelle since he needed to see that life does move on. I loved the three different points of view that came with The Named.
For the Order, there is a new leader of Chaos in town. Lathenia had a daughter named Jesilla, and she is the only point of view chapter person we had for this group. Jesilla blames herself for her mom's death, and she wants to avenge it by going after the Guardians of Time. I don't know how I felt for this girl. I could lock down my feeling, I wanted to hate her, but I also felt sorry for her.
She is eighteen years old and only knew her mom, and just to find out that her mom held a lot back from her. She decides to keep going with her mom's plan to rule the world (well, thinking that she is helping the planet as that is what Lathenia said) and hopes that Dillon is on her side. I do feel bad for the young girl since all she knew in her life was what her mom told her, while in reality, that is far from true. I hoped for a different ending for her.
My rating for The Shadow by Marianne Curley is five stars, and I'm recommending it to any young adult fantasy readers. I loved this book from the moment I picked it up to start reading it. Ms. Curley gives you all the emotions throughout the entire read. I felt sad for Jesilla and Dillon as I hoped that something good would happen between them. There are just a lot of feelings to feel for The Shadow. I can't wait to see what the next book entails from Ms. Curley.
Is Ethan losing his mind, or is Rochelle still alive?
The Named
We have The Named, which has at least three different points of view chapters but not a whole lot with two of them. I loved going to the different points of view for this group as it seemed appropriate, especially what was happening at the time that warranted that character to have its own chapter. We are in Ethan's head a lot more than we are in any of the others of the Named, and that's because he is our main character of the Named. Ethan is dealing with the aftermath of losing his soulmate. I was rooting for Ethan to get a semblance of normality back after losing Rochelle since he needed to see that life does move on. I loved the three different points of view that came with The Named.
The Order
For the Order, there is a new leader of Chaos in town. Lathenia had a daughter named Jesilla, and she is the only point of view chapter person we had for this group. Jesilla blames herself for her mom's death, and she wants to avenge it by going after the Guardians of Time. I don't know how I felt for this girl. I could lock down my feeling, I wanted to hate her, but I also felt sorry for her.
She is eighteen years old and only knew her mom, and just to find out that her mom held a lot back from her. She decides to keep going with her mom's plan to rule the world (well, thinking that she is helping the planet as that is what Lathenia said) and hopes that Dillon is on her side. I do feel bad for the young girl since all she knew in her life was what her mom told her, while in reality, that is far from true. I hoped for a different ending for her.
Five Stars
My rating for The Shadow by Marianne Curley is five stars, and I'm recommending it to any young adult fantasy readers. I loved this book from the moment I picked it up to start reading it. Ms. Curley gives you all the emotions throughout the entire read. I felt sad for Jesilla and Dillon as I hoped that something good would happen between them. There are just a lot of feelings to feel for The Shadow. I can't wait to see what the next book entails from Ms. Curley.
The Guardians of Time Complete Series
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of The Shadow by Marianne Curley.
Until the next time,
Happy Reading!
This review was originally posted on Baroness' Book Trove
but_then_you_read's review
5.0
How poetic is it that a series about time travel made me travel back to my childhood.
I was 8 when The Key was published in 2005, but I only discovered the trilogy when I was 10. I remember I found the first two books at my local bookstore, translated copies of my mother tongue language. I bought the first one, thinking it seemed interesting. I started reading it at night when I was in my bed, and soon after my mom started coming to my room every five minutes telling me to turn off the lights, it's past my bedtime. When she seemed too mad to argue with anymore, I turned off the light, waited for her footsteps to die down, then went under covers with a flashlight, the way every child should. The next day I demanded my mom to go to the bookstore and get me the second one.
When I was done with the first two, I made my mom take me to every bookstore in our area, searching for the third. When we couldn't find the translated version, we ordered it off amazon, in English. It was the first English book I read. I remember having a dictionary open next to me, but as it turned out I didn't need it much. I read it secretly under my desk at school the next day, and I finished it by that night. And in the following eleven years, I've read it countless many times, so much so that the covers of the books are torn apart, there are years old chocolate stains on the pages, and ripped corners from where I doggy eared my page. Every time my dad saw the books on my nightstand, he would chuckle and say, "these, again?".
I ordered The Shadow off amazon on Thursday, and received it six hours ago. I'm 21 now, alone in a college dorm with no mother near me telling me I should be studying instead, but as soon as I laid my hands on it, I ran into bed, went under covers, and started reading. From the very first sentence, I was back in my childhood room, with my stuffed dolphin under my arm, diving into this world in childlike wonder.
When I read the part in the first chapter where Ethan says "it's been one week since the final battle" I actually teared up. It hasn't been a week, it's been 13 years. 13 years since the final book was published, and 11 years since I became a part of the Named. But then, it feels as though it really was only a week ago. I remember so vividly finding the first book in the bookstore; I remember exactly which corner of the store it was in, on which shelf. I even remember what the cashier looked like. I remember it so well, it could not have been more than a week ago. There's nothing more effective than reading the books you grew up with to be transported to the time when you first found them.
What I'm trying to say is, thank you for the trilogy, and thank you for this additional book, which let me be the one doing the time traveling, and not just the one reading about it. It's been a pleasure growing up with your books.
(On another note - wow, I wrote enough to create a fifth novel. Sorry about that)
I was 8 when The Key was published in 2005, but I only discovered the trilogy when I was 10. I remember I found the first two books at my local bookstore, translated copies of my mother tongue language. I bought the first one, thinking it seemed interesting. I started reading it at night when I was in my bed, and soon after my mom started coming to my room every five minutes telling me to turn off the lights, it's past my bedtime. When she seemed too mad to argue with anymore, I turned off the light, waited for her footsteps to die down, then went under covers with a flashlight, the way every child should. The next day I demanded my mom to go to the bookstore and get me the second one.
When I was done with the first two, I made my mom take me to every bookstore in our area, searching for the third. When we couldn't find the translated version, we ordered it off amazon, in English. It was the first English book I read. I remember having a dictionary open next to me, but as it turned out I didn't need it much. I read it secretly under my desk at school the next day, and I finished it by that night. And in the following eleven years, I've read it countless many times, so much so that the covers of the books are torn apart, there are years old chocolate stains on the pages, and ripped corners from where I doggy eared my page. Every time my dad saw the books on my nightstand, he would chuckle and say, "these, again?".
I ordered The Shadow off amazon on Thursday, and received it six hours ago. I'm 21 now, alone in a college dorm with no mother near me telling me I should be studying instead, but as soon as I laid my hands on it, I ran into bed, went under covers, and started reading. From the very first sentence, I was back in my childhood room, with my stuffed dolphin under my arm, diving into this world in childlike wonder.
When I read the part in the first chapter where Ethan says "it's been one week since the final battle" I actually teared up. It hasn't been a week, it's been 13 years. 13 years since the final book was published, and 11 years since I became a part of the Named. But then, it feels as though it really was only a week ago. I remember so vividly finding the first book in the bookstore; I remember exactly which corner of the store it was in, on which shelf. I even remember what the cashier looked like. I remember it so well, it could not have been more than a week ago. There's nothing more effective than reading the books you grew up with to be transported to the time when you first found them.
What I'm trying to say is, thank you for the trilogy, and thank you for this additional book, which let me be the one doing the time traveling, and not just the one reading about it. It's been a pleasure growing up with your books.
(On another note - wow, I wrote enough to create a fifth novel. Sorry about that)
cadeunderbooks's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
2.25
5.8.22 #nostalgiareread
the_creepy_geek's review
5.0
Just the perfect continuation of one of my favourite series of all time.
Everything I wanted to happen, happened. It felt like everything I'd known for the last ten years was a lie and it was such a good feeling. I re-read the whole series before I read The Shadow and so my heartbreak was fresh going in. Everything that my little fangirl heart could have asked for to fix it was given to me and I'm so happy!
The ending was perfect because it rounded off one story and left the door open for their future story. I don't know whether we will ever see that story, but I for one, would love to read it.
Everything I wanted to happen, happened. It felt like everything I'd known for the last ten years was a lie and it was such a good feeling. I re-read the whole series before I read The Shadow and so my heartbreak was fresh going in. Everything that my little fangirl heart could have asked for to fix it was given to me and I'm so happy!
The ending was perfect because it rounded off one story and left the door open for their future story. I don't know whether we will ever see that story, but I for one, would love to read it.
caitlyn's review against another edition
1.0
I really enjoyed the Guardians of Time trilogy when I was younger, so I was very excited to step back into this world again.
However, this book was not up to the standard of the previous three. It is self-published by the author and there were often times when I felt that parts required further editing. Some of the dialogue was clumsy and character reactions either seemed too extreme or too passive given the situation.
Something I really enjoyed and was a crucial part of the previous books was when the characters visited different time periods on their missions. Yet in this book, the first time they visit another time period doesn't happen until page 146 (almost halfway through the story!) At about this point the story did get more interesting and I was eager to see how the plot would unfold.
Another issue I have with this book is the spoilers in the character list at the front of the book. Given the amount of time that has passed since the publication of the original trilogy, it was helpful to have a list of names reminding me of who was who. However, descriptions written next to some of the names gave away plot spoilers about information that came later in this book. The character list either needed to be printed at the back of the book or not contain this information. If it's at the front, I'm going to assume it's safe to read before the story.
For most of the book, I had planned on giving it 2 stars, as there were some good parts. Unfortunately, there were two things that I read that left me no choice but to give it 1 star. I don't know if these are the views of the author or if they are her characters' opinion but either way, I totally disagree with them. I understand that sometimes authors will put forward unpleasant opinions because it is important to the persona of a character and hopefully, where it is a negative viewpoint, the author will go on to show how this is challenged by others. In the two instances I will mention, these views are not challenged. I also feel that they both cover such sensitive subjects that, particularly as a writer of YA fiction, the author should be challenging these stereotypes rather than perpetuating them.
The first issue I have is the way that the author makes a distiction between girls and boys crying, reinforcing the ridiculous and dangerous stereotype that it's ok for girls to cry but boys/men must hold in their emotions. On page 107 we get, 'you had all the girls and more than half of the boys crying'. Whilst on page 273 we have this quote, 'For a guy, I've cried more than my fair share this year. These could have quite simply been written as, 'You had everyone crying' and 'I've cried more than my fair share this year' without affecting the character's journey or the plot but staying away from making it sound like a bad thing for boys to cry. In a time when suicide, particularly in young males, is on the rise, we should be doing all we can to encourage those who are hurting to share their feelings and not be ashamed of them.
The second is on page 332, where Lorian's decision to not identify as male or female is mentioned. Ethan thinks to himself that although Arabella believed Lorian was her true love, she couldn't be with Lorian due to this decision. Surely if someone is your true love and you are theirs, it shouldn't matter if they identify as male, female or gender neutral. Furthermore, Ethan's thoughts imply that it's not Arabella who is unwilling to enter into a relationship. Instead, the thought is put forward that Lorian cannot have a relationship with someone who is female due to not identifying as male (or possible female, but I think this is less likely as the author has not included any same sex relationships in this story). I disagree with the idea that if you can't identify as a specific gender, you can't have a relationship.
However, this book was not up to the standard of the previous three. It is self-published by the author and there were often times when I felt that parts required further editing. Some of the dialogue was clumsy and character reactions either seemed too extreme or too passive given the situation.
Another issue I have with this book is the spoilers in the character list at the front of the book. Given the amount of time that has passed since the publication of the original trilogy, it was helpful to have a list of names reminding me of who was who. However, descriptions written next to some of the names gave away plot spoilers about information that came later in this book. The character list either needed to be printed at the back of the book or not contain this information. If it's at the front, I'm going to assume it's safe to read before the story.
For most of the book, I had planned on giving it 2 stars, as there were some good parts. Unfortunately, there were two things that I read that left me no choice but to give it 1 star. I don't know if these are the views of the author or if they are her characters' opinion but either way, I totally disagree with them. I understand that sometimes authors will put forward unpleasant opinions because it is important to the persona of a character and hopefully, where it is a negative viewpoint, the author will go on to show how this is challenged by others. In the two instances I will mention, these views are not challenged. I also feel that they both cover such sensitive subjects that, particularly as a writer of YA fiction, the author should be challenging these stereotypes rather than perpetuating them.
The second is on page 332, where Lorian's decision to not identify as male or female is mentioned. Ethan thinks to himself that although Arabella believed Lorian was her true love, she couldn't be with Lorian due to this decision. Surely if someone is your true love and you are theirs, it shouldn't matter if they identify as male, female or gender neutral. Furthermore, Ethan's thoughts imply that it's not Arabella who is unwilling to enter into a relationship. Instead, the thought is put forward that Lorian cannot have a relationship with someone who is female due to not identifying as male (or possible female, but I think this is less likely as the author has not included any same sex relationships in this story). I disagree with the idea that if you can't identify as a specific gender, you can't have a relationship.
wobbles's review
5.0
I found an email I wrote to Marianne Curley back in 2005 asking if there would be another Guardians of Time book and man, she really came through for 13-year-old me.