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A review by hazelalaska
Girl in the Shadows by Gwenda Bond
4.0
3.75 stars.
I really wanted to give this four stars, and by the middle of the book I thought I would, but while the middle 50% of the book was solid, the first and last 25% of the book didn't enchant me as much. It took me a long time to get through the first quarter, but I think part of that was my fault. I had read other reviews where people were saying it wasn't that good and that the characters were flat and the trope of insta-love is used, and I think that made me less interested in the book. Once I got through the first quarter it started picking up for me. I did feel that there was insta-love and that the main relationship wasn't as well developed as it could have been. I feel like if I had read this back in my middle school days or early high school, I would have given it five stars. I just think I've learned to be more critical of what I'm reading, which is both a good thing and a bad thing.
I did still enjoy this book, though. It felt sort of similar to Girl on a Wire, where the main character joins Cirque American against her family’s wishes. In this case, Moira’s dad doesn’t want her to be a magician, and he says women don’t usually make it as magicians. Along the way, the main character discovers some secrets and there is magic involved. I have to say that this one fixed one if my problems with the first book which was that I wanted more magic. Magic ( both fake and real) abounds in this one. I really appreciated how Moira dedicated her acts to female magicians, spreading awareness of these forgotten women as sort of a way to prove her dad wrong. I think the plot of this one was more interesting than the previous book, though many of the characters from book one also play a role in this story. The plot was a bit more out there and involved more magic than that of just a few objects.
I would have liked to have seen more of the relationship between Moira and her dad before she left for the Cirque. He doesn't support her desire to perform magic, but I didn't know whether he was otherwise supportive. It seemed like it, but I felt I was grasping at straws. Moira herself said that he otherwise supportive, but then he made some choices late in the book that made me question how he could claim to be a supportive parent. All I saw was him being controlling.
I didn't have a problem with the relationship between Moira and Dez, other than the fact that it started out with insta-love. It felt like they barely knew each other and they already wanted to be in a relationship. I felt it could have developed more over time, since they are spending the summer together. I never felt that their relationship was totally solid, but there were other factors I think that subtly influenced this. I was fine with their relationship, but I wasn't gushing over it, and it wasn't necessarily OTP material.
Spoilers!
Even though Moira herself says her dad supports her in things other than her desire to perform, I didn't see that late in the novel. I really disliked him because he tried to make Thurston get rid of Moira and make her come home, and I think that was incredibly controlling behavior, and it was unsettling because he was trying to control his adult daughter. Moira is still young, but she is legally an adult who can make her own choices. I'm glad Thurston stood up for her and said that he would not force her to leave. I think her dad's behavior went beyond being protective. I was thinking the whole time when Moira was worried about her dad finding out about her lie that technically he couldn't legally make her come home because of her age. The only thing he could do was exert his power and influence within the industry.
I felt like I wasn't totally all-in on the relationship between Moira and Dez because Dez wasn't either. In part because of his loyalties as part of the Praestigae, but also because of his own insecurities that come out late in the book. He's grown up thinking he's a failure and that he has to make up for what his dad did. It doesn't seem like he has experienced love before, and he is put down a lot by the Rex, so of course he would question whether he is worthy of love. He put on a bravado of sorts, a pretend rakishness, as Moira called it, but it was to hide his own insecurities. I do think their relationship and characters developed over the course of the novel because he didn't reveal this side of him at first, not even to Moira. I don't know if other people felt this way about their relationship and whether it was an intentional choice, but it felt kind of genius.
I wasn't at all surprised by the revelation that Dez's "family friend" and Moira's mom were part of the Praestigae, or that Brandon and Dez were too. some of the dead giveaways for me were the the names. I knew Rex was latin for king, and Regina queen. When Dez said where he came from the believed in kings and benevolent queens, I immediately knew he was part of it too. I don't know if it was supposed to be shocking but it wasn't for me. I still thought it was really clever, though. I love when the meaning of the names is important for the plot. What did surprise me was the Raleigh was searching for the coin. I hadn't ruled him out, though I was suspicious of him because his trailer hadn't been rifled through and he was talking a lot about the notes being misdirection. I guess that should have been my clue that he was the real culprit.
I felt the story was strongest in the middle. After the 75% mark it started losing me a bit again. I wasn't sure that I totally understood the plan and how it was going to work, even before her dad went and complicated things. I still had some questions about Regina as well. Is her name actually Regina, or did she have another name? She mentioned the Regina has to reproduce or they're cursed. I assume her mom was the previous Regina, so did she name her daughter for the role she would take? Can Regina have more kids and pass her power on, or would their power die out because Moira won't be the next Regina? I like how their society was led by women because women hold the magic. I also wondered whether Regina was on Moira's side all along or whether she was also in it for the ulterior motives and not just because of the Rex. It seems she is sort of entitled because of how Dez described her as not ever paying for anything and always using illusions, though whether that was because of the Rex we never learn. She is still a very mysterious figure at the end of the book, which is fine.
I feel like at times, Moira makes some rookie mistakes, not all of which make sense within the story. For example, she learned about the Praestigae from Nan, yet only at the end does she ask Nan for information about them. She even tried searching the internet first and found nothing. I was questioning the whole time why she didn't ask Nan, who seems to know a bit about them. She may have distrusted Nan at the beginning, but she later came to trust her because she went to Nan first when she knew someone was looking for the coin, instead of going to Thurston. Also, Moira's not really good at playing Nancy Drew because when she follows Dez and Brandon, she waltzes right into a strange house instead of trying to look in the windows to figure out what's going on. I feel like it's her own fault that she got in the situation she did.
I really wanted to give this four stars, and by the middle of the book I thought I would, but while the middle 50% of the book was solid, the first and last 25% of the book didn't enchant me as much. It took me a long time to get through the first quarter, but I think part of that was my fault. I had read other reviews where people were saying it wasn't that good and that the characters were flat and the trope of insta-love is used, and I think that made me less interested in the book. Once I got through the first quarter it started picking up for me. I did feel that there was insta-love and that the main relationship wasn't as well developed as it could have been. I feel like if I had read this back in my middle school days or early high school, I would have given it five stars. I just think I've learned to be more critical of what I'm reading, which is both a good thing and a bad thing.
I did still enjoy this book, though. It felt sort of similar to Girl on a Wire, where the main character joins Cirque American against her family’s wishes. In this case, Moira’s dad doesn’t want her to be a magician, and he says women don’t usually make it as magicians. Along the way, the main character discovers some secrets and there is magic involved. I have to say that this one fixed one if my problems with the first book which was that I wanted more magic. Magic ( both fake and real) abounds in this one. I really appreciated how Moira dedicated her acts to female magicians, spreading awareness of these forgotten women as sort of a way to prove her dad wrong. I think the plot of this one was more interesting than the previous book, though many of the characters from book one also play a role in this story. The plot was a bit more out there and involved more magic than that of just a few objects.
I would have liked to have seen more of the relationship between Moira and her dad before she left for the Cirque. He doesn't support her desire to perform magic, but I didn't know whether he was otherwise supportive. It seemed like it, but I felt I was grasping at straws. Moira herself said that he otherwise supportive, but then he made some choices late in the book that made me question how he could claim to be a supportive parent. All I saw was him being controlling.
I didn't have a problem with the relationship between Moira and Dez, other than the fact that it started out with insta-love. It felt like they barely knew each other and they already wanted to be in a relationship. I felt it could have developed more over time, since they are spending the summer together. I never felt that their relationship was totally solid, but there were other factors I think that subtly influenced this. I was fine with their relationship, but I wasn't gushing over it, and it wasn't necessarily OTP material.
Spoilers!
Even though Moira herself says her dad supports her in things other than her desire to perform, I didn't see that late in the novel. I really disliked him because he tried to make Thurston get rid of Moira and make her come home, and I think that was incredibly controlling behavior, and it was unsettling because he was trying to control his adult daughter. Moira is still young, but she is legally an adult who can make her own choices. I'm glad Thurston stood up for her and said that he would not force her to leave. I think her dad's behavior went beyond being protective. I was thinking the whole time when Moira was worried about her dad finding out about her lie that technically he couldn't legally make her come home because of her age. The only thing he could do was exert his power and influence within the industry.
I felt like I wasn't totally all-in on the relationship between Moira and Dez because Dez wasn't either. In part because of his loyalties as part of the Praestigae, but also because of his own insecurities that come out late in the book. He's grown up thinking he's a failure and that he has to make up for what his dad did. It doesn't seem like he has experienced love before, and he is put down a lot by the Rex, so of course he would question whether he is worthy of love. He put on a bravado of sorts, a pretend rakishness, as Moira called it, but it was to hide his own insecurities. I do think their relationship and characters developed over the course of the novel because he didn't reveal this side of him at first, not even to Moira. I don't know if other people felt this way about their relationship and whether it was an intentional choice, but it felt kind of genius.
I wasn't at all surprised by the revelation that Dez's "family friend" and Moira's mom were part of the Praestigae, or that Brandon and Dez were too. some of the dead giveaways for me were the the names. I knew Rex was latin for king, and Regina queen. When Dez said where he came from the believed in kings and benevolent queens, I immediately knew he was part of it too. I don't know if it was supposed to be shocking but it wasn't for me. I still thought it was really clever, though. I love when the meaning of the names is important for the plot. What did surprise me was the Raleigh was searching for the coin. I hadn't ruled him out, though I was suspicious of him because his trailer hadn't been rifled through and he was talking a lot about the notes being misdirection. I guess that should have been my clue that he was the real culprit.
I felt the story was strongest in the middle. After the 75% mark it started losing me a bit again. I wasn't sure that I totally understood the plan and how it was going to work, even before her dad went and complicated things. I still had some questions about Regina as well. Is her name actually Regina, or did she have another name? She mentioned the Regina has to reproduce or they're cursed. I assume her mom was the previous Regina, so did she name her daughter for the role she would take? Can Regina have more kids and pass her power on, or would their power die out because Moira won't be the next Regina? I like how their society was led by women because women hold the magic. I also wondered whether Regina was on Moira's side all along or whether she was also in it for the ulterior motives and not just because of the Rex. It seems she is sort of entitled because of how Dez described her as not ever paying for anything and always using illusions, though whether that was because of the Rex we never learn. She is still a very mysterious figure at the end of the book, which is fine.
I feel like at times, Moira makes some rookie mistakes, not all of which make sense within the story. For example, she learned about the Praestigae from Nan, yet only at the end does she ask Nan for information about them. She even tried searching the internet first and found nothing. I was questioning the whole time why she didn't ask Nan, who seems to know a bit about them. She may have distrusted Nan at the beginning, but she later came to trust her because she went to Nan first when she knew someone was looking for the coin, instead of going to Thurston. Also, Moira's not really good at playing Nancy Drew because when she follows Dez and Brandon, she waltzes right into a strange house instead of trying to look in the windows to figure out what's going on. I feel like it's her own fault that she got in the situation she did.