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A review by teaandspite
The Last Shadow Warrior by Sam Subity
2.0
I wanted to like this book so much. I really did. The problem is that it had no spark. The ideas are all there, the characters are mostly there, the world is there, but none of it comes together the way it should.
Part of this feels like Subity trying desperately to recreate the Rick Riordan success formula and failing. The book reads like a Percy Jackson knock-off rather than a new, individual voice. Which is too bad because there are glimmers of possibility in the way Subity frames his modern take on Vikings that are worlds away from Riordan's Magnus Chase series. The glimmers never fully form though, instead leaving the world dim and flat.
The other big problem is that there's no real emotional investment and therefore no pay off to the individual events in the book. One of the first things Abby does is, but...no one cares. It does not matter. Similarly, when she , there are no consequences. Nothing. Abby doesn't even properly consider or worry about what potential consequences she might face. If she doesn't care, then why should readers care?
Even the battle and adventure scenes fall flat because of this lack of emotional investment. The entire book takes place over the course of a few days, as seems to be the habit for middle grade books these days, but the relentless in-world pace drags for readers due to how tedious the action is. Abby grabbed a sword. She slashed at something. Yawn. If you're going to pack your book with battle scenes, the battle scenes need to work. They need to convey a sense of urgency, at the very least. Subity's battle scenes read like Ben Stein reciting a sports play by play.
All of that said, I do think Subity can improve enough to make picking up his next book worth a shot. He just happened to miss the mark with this one. Not exactly unusual for a debut author.
Part of this feels like Subity trying desperately to recreate the Rick Riordan success formula and failing. The book reads like a Percy Jackson knock-off rather than a new, individual voice. Which is too bad because there are glimmers of possibility in the way Subity frames his modern take on Vikings that are worlds away from Riordan's Magnus Chase series. The glimmers never fully form though, instead leaving the world dim and flat.
The other big problem is that there's no real emotional investment and therefore no pay off to the individual events in the book. One of the first things Abby does is
Spoiler
spill her supposedly super secret Viking heritage to a non-Viking she's known less than a day and take the non-Viking into the super secret Viking baseSpoiler
immediately tells her two new besties (who, again, she's known less than a week) about what was supposed to be a secret conversationEven the battle and adventure scenes fall flat because of this lack of emotional investment. The entire book takes place over the course of a few days, as seems to be the habit for middle grade books these days, but the relentless in-world pace drags for readers due to how tedious the action is. Abby grabbed a sword. She slashed at something. Yawn. If you're going to pack your book with battle scenes, the battle scenes need to work. They need to convey a sense of urgency, at the very least. Subity's battle scenes read like Ben Stein reciting a sports play by play.
All of that said, I do think Subity can improve enough to make picking up his next book worth a shot. He just happened to miss the mark with this one. Not exactly unusual for a debut author.