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A review by xandra_lyn
Shadowfell by Juliet Marillier
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This was a hard one to rate. For most of it, I would have rated a 2.
First, the bad. It was REALLY boring for most of it. A lot of walking in the rain and getting sick and being hungry. Tolkien got away with it because he was the first in the genre, and Rowling got away with it because it was the trio together. But the MC was all by herself and kept pushing people away and it was boring...and dumb.
Which leads me to how dumb and boring Neryn was. I know it's common to have a heroine like that, especially back in 2012. But over a decade later, it hasn't aged well. She kept vacillating between trusting and abhoring Flint, and the emotional development on it was poor at best absent at worst. Also, she read as much older, at least 20, although I could have seen maybe 17. But she wasn't...
Which leads me to my third complaint of having it not age well: Neryn was 15, and her love interest is about 20. I get that historically that was fine, and i get society wasn't as aware as we are now back when this was written. But we should have been, and it's cringy reading it now.
And yet...I'm curious about the world building. When there was dialogue, it was interesting and I liked Flint. I liked the Good Folk, and I'm curious how it will turn out.
Which is why it got bumped from a 2 to a 3.
First, the bad. It was REALLY boring for most of it. A lot of walking in the rain and getting sick and being hungry. Tolkien got away with it because he was the first in the genre, and Rowling got away with it because it was the trio together. But the MC was all by herself and kept pushing people away and it was boring...and dumb.
Which leads me to how dumb and boring Neryn was. I know it's common to have a heroine like that, especially back in 2012. But over a decade later, it hasn't aged well. She kept vacillating between trusting and abhoring Flint, and the emotional development on it was poor at best absent at worst. Also, she read as much older, at least 20, although I could have seen maybe 17. But she wasn't...
Which leads me to my third complaint of having it not age well: Neryn was 15, and her love interest is about 20. I get that historically that was fine, and i get society wasn't as aware as we are now back when this was written. But we should have been, and it's cringy reading it now.
And yet...I'm curious about the world building. When there was dialogue, it was interesting and I liked Flint. I liked the Good Folk, and I'm curious how it will turn out.
Which is why it got bumped from a 2 to a 3.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Torture, and Death
Minor: Sexual assault
In the very first chapter, a man gropes her and touches her inappropriately. She escapes.
Torture: I feel what the enthrallers do to people torture, especially since it robs them of themselves.