Scan barcode
A review by myweereads
Shadowland by Peter Straub
4.0
“What we do here is physiologically impossible. So we must train the body to accept the impossible, and then it will become possible.”
Shadowland by Peter Straub is the coming of age story of Tom and Del who meet at a prestigious boarding school.
The structure of the book splits it into two main parts. The first being the time spent at the boarding school and the events which take place there setting up the creepy and eerie vision of what Shadowland is about and then there is the second part set at Coleman Collins home. A house made of secret doorways and traps which lure the boys to learn about real magic and what’s really happing in Shadowland.
Initially I thought this would be a horror novel but the further I read the more it was obvious its a fantasy one with horror elements. It’s been said that you could compare it slightly to Stephen King’s IT and on some level I suppose you could as the similar factor of Shadowland being of magic, the beings that dwell there, give off that familiar feeling. This book was written in 1980, where the idea of young magicians finding each other to then go on to defeat a sorcerer was fairly new.
The imagery was quite gruesome and shocking on a few occasions. There is a specific badger scene which had me quite surprised, some of the scenes that take place in Shadowland felt like you were on some kind of a trip. Those elements were well written. The first part of the book gave a good build up however it felt like it lagged on more than one occasion. There’s no doubt that the fantasy themes are heavily present throughout, I wouldn’t go as far as saying it was terrifying, this could also be because I’ve read it as an adult, had I read it in my teens maybe I would have felt differently.
The book has received some harsh criticism over not being as iconic as Ghost Story (which i’ve yet to read), I wouldn’t say its a bad novel at all, it was a good read, and if I had to score it out of 5 I would give it a 3.75.
Shadowland by Peter Straub is the coming of age story of Tom and Del who meet at a prestigious boarding school.
The structure of the book splits it into two main parts. The first being the time spent at the boarding school and the events which take place there setting up the creepy and eerie vision of what Shadowland is about and then there is the second part set at Coleman Collins home. A house made of secret doorways and traps which lure the boys to learn about real magic and what’s really happing in Shadowland.
Initially I thought this would be a horror novel but the further I read the more it was obvious its a fantasy one with horror elements. It’s been said that you could compare it slightly to Stephen King’s IT and on some level I suppose you could as the similar factor of Shadowland being of magic, the beings that dwell there, give off that familiar feeling. This book was written in 1980, where the idea of young magicians finding each other to then go on to defeat a sorcerer was fairly new.
The imagery was quite gruesome and shocking on a few occasions. There is a specific badger scene which had me quite surprised, some of the scenes that take place in Shadowland felt like you were on some kind of a trip. Those elements were well written. The first part of the book gave a good build up however it felt like it lagged on more than one occasion. There’s no doubt that the fantasy themes are heavily present throughout, I wouldn’t go as far as saying it was terrifying, this could also be because I’ve read it as an adult, had I read it in my teens maybe I would have felt differently.
The book has received some harsh criticism over not being as iconic as Ghost Story (which i’ve yet to read), I wouldn’t say its a bad novel at all, it was a good read, and if I had to score it out of 5 I would give it a 3.75.