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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is one of my favorite of Peter Straub's novels. It's a creepy take on the idea of the [b:Sorcerer's Apprentice|1524173|The Sorcerer in the North (Ranger's Apprentice, #5)|John Flanagan|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327918728s/1524173.jpg|6627897] -- only in this case, the sorcerer may be more dangerous than anything his apprentice can cook up. There are loads of references to fairy tales here, which are fun to try to place, and I love the way that Straub makes it difficult to figure out what's real magic and what's just sleight of hand.
Shadowland was the third in the books I enjoyed so much as a kid, but when I read as an adult, I realized that this book wasn't ever really about looking back on the idylls of youth. In fact, there wasn't even much of a pretense of putting anything idyllic in this novel at all. The only redeeming quality about childhood from the book was the wide-eyed innocence of Del (which was destroyed by the climactic scene in the novel), and the friendship between him and Tom (which was barely a friendship at all, and more of a dependent relationship on Del's part). But the magic, the imagery, and the overall premise of the novel had a profound effect on me back in high school. Amazingly, it held up well over the past 20-ish years, but I think I appreciate it now for different reasons.
The entire novel is about the two main characters — Del Nightingale and Tom Flanagan — who are both amateur magicians, and who spend one summer with Del's uncle, who is a famous and very eccentric magician. The plot starts at their boarding school, which seems like something straight out of David Copperfield, and the horrible things that happened to both characters. From there, it shifts to Del's uncle’s estate — Shadowland — but what they realize when they get there is that the boarding school had been a part of Shadowland that year, too, and that all of the horrible events were all about Coleman, Del's uncle, wanting to bring them both to his side of magic. Real magic.
In the first half of the novel, set at the boarding school, a lot of attention is paid to an English course where the instructor is fascinated with fairy tales. The fairy tales are actually the core of the theme of the book, as Straub takes a handful of fairy tales and weaves them together to form the backdrop of the plot. It explains a lot about the tone of the novel — it’s very dark and bleak, with an ending that can hardly be classified as "happy" — but it gives the story a nice depth that I hadn't recognized before. I’d like to say that I would have figured this out without having to read about it Straub's new introduction to the latest printing of the book, but who knows? I read it first, and then I started looking for those points.
I remember being fascinated with the character of Rose Armstrong, a live-in helper at Shadowland who is about the same age as Tom and Del, when I was younger, and I still found her to be a fascinating character, though for different reasons. She becomes involved with Tom, all while Del thinks she's still agog over him, and their three-way relationship takes on a life of its own once all three of them meet. But this time I noticed more how much of a tortured character she was, and understood more the mystery of her origins. Her foolishness and naivete grew a little tiresome, but understanding what her origins were, and what drove her motivations, explained away a lot of her strange behavior. But she still had an odd attraction that went further than her relationship with Tom and Del, and she’s a character that lingers long after you finish the book.
I don’t think the book is perfect — there was at least one major plot point that I felt needed to be explained away to really buy the entire story — but it’s still a damn fine book by a damn fine writer. I find it very curious that, during this period of reminiscence, Simmons' book improved, King's slid back a bit, and Straub's stayed about the same, but for different reasons. I hesitate to call it maturity that’s affected how I view the novels, but it has been about 20 years since I read some of these books, and I suppose I did have to grow up some in that span of time. I highly recommend this novel to any fans of horror, dark fantasy, or even urban fantasy.
The entire novel is about the two main characters — Del Nightingale and Tom Flanagan — who are both amateur magicians, and who spend one summer with Del's uncle, who is a famous and very eccentric magician. The plot starts at their boarding school, which seems like something straight out of David Copperfield, and the horrible things that happened to both characters. From there, it shifts to Del's uncle’s estate — Shadowland — but what they realize when they get there is that the boarding school had been a part of Shadowland that year, too, and that all of the horrible events were all about Coleman, Del's uncle, wanting to bring them both to his side of magic. Real magic.
In the first half of the novel, set at the boarding school, a lot of attention is paid to an English course where the instructor is fascinated with fairy tales. The fairy tales are actually the core of the theme of the book, as Straub takes a handful of fairy tales and weaves them together to form the backdrop of the plot. It explains a lot about the tone of the novel — it’s very dark and bleak, with an ending that can hardly be classified as "happy" — but it gives the story a nice depth that I hadn't recognized before. I’d like to say that I would have figured this out without having to read about it Straub's new introduction to the latest printing of the book, but who knows? I read it first, and then I started looking for those points.
I remember being fascinated with the character of Rose Armstrong, a live-in helper at Shadowland who is about the same age as Tom and Del, when I was younger, and I still found her to be a fascinating character, though for different reasons. She becomes involved with Tom, all while Del thinks she's still agog over him, and their three-way relationship takes on a life of its own once all three of them meet. But this time I noticed more how much of a tortured character she was, and understood more the mystery of her origins. Her foolishness and naivete grew a little tiresome, but understanding what her origins were, and what drove her motivations, explained away a lot of her strange behavior. But she still had an odd attraction that went further than her relationship with Tom and Del, and she’s a character that lingers long after you finish the book.
I don’t think the book is perfect — there was at least one major plot point that I felt needed to be explained away to really buy the entire story — but it’s still a damn fine book by a damn fine writer. I find it very curious that, during this period of reminiscence, Simmons' book improved, King's slid back a bit, and Straub's stayed about the same, but for different reasons. I hesitate to call it maturity that’s affected how I view the novels, but it has been about 20 years since I read some of these books, and I suppose I did have to grow up some in that span of time. I highly recommend this novel to any fans of horror, dark fantasy, or even urban fantasy.
I loved this book. It reminded me a bit of Ray Bradbury’s stories about kids and magicians. To be honest I loved Straub’s book more than Bradbury’s. I enjoyed it both as a book and as an audiobook (narrated by William Dufris). I was a little embarrassed with a couple of final chapters but otherwise Peter Straub does great.
I first read this book in high school and it profoundly affected teenaged me. Not as gripping as I remember, but still a solid read and one of Straub's more accessible offerings.
On a Richter Scale of horror where 10 is downright poop my pants frightening, and 1 is totally laughable, this novel registered a 3. That's a level so mild you barely feel it. In fact, those moments only came in the early chapters when the protagonist, Tom Flanagan, was still at school. The heavy balance of the novel was tedious and boring, with stretches of inconsequential sections that would have been better left out. I can only guess Peter Straub was worried about the word count in an attempt to keep pace with his buddy Stephen King and the lengthy novels Stephen is prone to write.
There was a significant amount of disconnect between the first part of the book at school and the lengthy second part at Shadowland. Characters, who the author spent much time developing in the early part, either totally disappeared or only had insignificant reprises for the sole purpose of reminding the reader they were still in the novel. It made me suspect the author had written two incomplete novels and decided to mash them together in an attempt to provide one lengthy cohesive one. Sadly, he failed. At times it was if he started writing with some certain goal in mind, but abandoned that goal as he went. Most notably, the saving of Del by Tom. A major theme that was lost at the end. The only identifiable character was one of the antagonists, Skeleton Ridpath, and his role was truncated severely in the latter half. Disappointing.
There was a significant amount of disconnect between the first part of the book at school and the lengthy second part at Shadowland. Characters, who the author spent much time developing in the early part, either totally disappeared or only had insignificant reprises for the sole purpose of reminding the reader they were still in the novel. It made me suspect the author had written two incomplete novels and decided to mash them together in an attempt to provide one lengthy cohesive one. Sadly, he failed. At times it was if he started writing with some certain goal in mind, but abandoned that goal as he went. Most notably, the saving of Del by Tom. A major theme that was lost at the end. The only identifiable character was one of the antagonists, Skeleton Ridpath, and his role was truncated severely in the latter half. Disappointing.
The last part of this book saves it from a solid drop to the bottom of a well. Stick with it through the incomprehensible and bizarre middle part and you'll get your money's worth.
This had a great start, but it lost me after about the first third. I mean, I finished the book and it was well-written but that early appeal sort of petered out. That initial third, set in a school in the American southwest, was almost more literary than horror. I suppose for some readers it's the long and boring introduction before they get to the creepy magician in Vermont, but I had no interest whatsoever in the creepy magician in Vermont, and everything he did had the flavour of histrionics. I do not find histrionics at all attractive, and although young Tom Flanagan did his best to balance out all the melodrama by being a solidly sensible kid, it was all just a bit too over-the-top for my taste. Had it not been for that wonderful long opening, this would probably have been a two star read for me - not because there's anything wrong with it, it just isn't my thing - but that opening third drags up the entire rating as far as I'm concerned.