Ensimmäiset kahdeksankymmentä sivua olivat aikamoista kuraa, ja loppu jotenkin lässähti, mutta muuten tämä oli varsin mainio ja originelli. Tykkäsin kovasti päähenkilö Darcysta, mutta monet sivuhenkilöt kyllä jäivät hieman kaksiuloitteiseksi. Romanssi oli tässä ihan ok, eikä sen annettu liikaa dominoida suhteellisen isosta roolistaan huolimatta. Kaipasin hieman yksityiskohtaisempaa kuvailua toisesta todellisuudesta, monet seikat jäivät minulle vähän etäiseksi. Kaikesta huolimatta viihdyttävä kirja ja vajavaisesta kuvailusta huolimatta iso plussa vaihtoehtoisesta todellisuudesta!

GOOD! I was sad about finishing my last book (The Raven Boys) and needed something fast paced and noncommittal to read next and this was PERFECT. The main character Darcy is fab, fab, fab, the love interest is mysterious and loner-y but with a personality, not just an archetype. As always with books like this, some of the plot was stupid or unbelievable or just big side eye worthy (near the end, looking at you) and the ending was kind of anticlimactic, but who cares, that's not why I read YA.

Good for a quick read with some nice swoon and bonus points for Chicago and alternate universes!

I really liked Darcy's group of friends, they were definitely my favorite part of the book. There were a few parts were the writing was a bit confusing, but overall this was really good.

More parallel realities! In this book, our world split apart during the Great Chicago Fire: our current world as we know it, and a different version.

I really like books with parallel universes, especially reading about the similarities and differences between the two. In the other universe, there are creatures called Shades lurking around, dubbed as monsters by humans.

There isn't much I can say about this book without spoiling it all, but let me tell you this: I ship Darcy and Connor. Okay? Not Darcy and Orion. (Though I'm not sure anyone did.) They have their love-hate moments, but you can tell that Connor really cares for Darcy. :)

I liked many of the aspects found in The Shadow Society including a unique world and interesting characters. I liked how the author used a parallel dimension and an existence of creatures known as shades to create a unique story.

The beginning and the final chapters had the best pacing. Some of the middle dragged a little as Darcy and Conn’s romance develops. I liked that it wasn’t an insta-love connection between the two of them, but after a betrayal occurs, I found it hard to root for them as a couple.

I liked the concept of the parallel dimensions and how the Great Chicago Fire caused a split between the two worlds. The shades were cool creatures as well, but I wished they were more fully developed. There wasn’t an explanation on how they came to exist or how their powers worked. For instance, the characters state that their bodies ceased to exist, but I couldn’t understand how Darcy could hear, see and speak while in the form. The Shadow Society is one of those stories where you just have to go with it and ignore logic.

Darcy was a great protagonist. I liked the complexity of her character and how she could be equal parts tough and vulnerable. Her relationships with her friends and foster mother were also touching. I would’ve liked to see more of these characters in the story.

Conn was a confusing character and I think the author purposely made it hard to get a read on him. I understood some of his motivations, but some of his other actions felt forced. Another romantic interest is thrown into the mix, but didn’t really serve much to the overall storyline.

I enjoyed The Shadow Society more than I expected. I believe this is a standalone, but there is certain room for additional stories about the shades and Darcy.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this novel for review!

The overall premise of this book - an alternate world with shadow creatures - was very intriguing, but certain parts of the book didn’t live up to what they could have been.

The good parts were uncovering Darcy’s past and exploring the alternate Chicago and its political dynamics. Honestly, I would have loved to read Darcy’s parents story, or even just the story of the alternate Chicago during the time period of the Great Fire. I think that would have been fascinating.

I didn’t particularly enjoy the romance, as it was a little bit cliche with the “a hot guy shows up and changes my life” trope. Darcy’s friends were underdeveloped as characters as well, and I didn’t find their involvement in certain plot elements to be believable.

All in all, it was a good book. I really enjoyed it and I had lots of fun BUT, my main problem was with our love interest. I just didn't buy it, why love him? And then, our MC is described as beautiful, yes, but she has all the boys vying for her attention? REALLY? Okay, she didn't feign ignorance and I liked that she was like 'yeah, i know they like me but no'.
Then, our MC, she was too fickle, to lost in her own childish mind that she didn't realize lots of bigger things going around her! I was so angry when we would get 49384032 pages of her describing how she felt on Conn

pushing her back after she kissed him

and not on the fact that she discovers that her parents are

fucking mass murderers! And that they fucking died because she was a noisy little girl, which yeah, I don't blame her, but she should've blamed herself a little bit and then be confused because her parents were murderers and they killed Conn's whole family, but no, we don't get that awesome torturous feelings running through her head, we get her kiss with Conn over and over again.

So, in conclusion, the book was great and it gives you an awesome little nudge into thinking about how being different is not that bad at all and that the people who love you will not stop loving you even when they find out you're not who they thought you were, because you're still YOU.
But, again, there's little character development and not enough depth in several specific themes I would've loved to know more.

4/5 Stars

FABULOUS.

I feel weird giving this a review at all because I didn't finish reading it. Or, this time I didn't finish reading it.
I thought this was a brand new book. I picked it up from the new arrival table at the library and put it in my to read pile at home. There it sat for about 2 months before I finally got around to reading it.
The intro is great. It catches you. But after that it was brimming with tired sterotypes from the get-go. Outcast female main character. Group of artsy friends. *gasp* hot guy who is popular likes me.
I would have kept reading, because despite the sterotypes I liked the premise. But I found that as I was reading the book felt familiar. I didn't know what was going to happen before it happened, but once it happened it felt as if I had already been through it. So, either I have read the book before and don't remember (which isn't a good sign, because if I liked it the first time I would remember reading it), or its so similar to other YA fiction stories that I cannot separate it from something else I have read.
Not a good thing, either way.