Shadow Weaver by MarcyKate Connolly
Rating: 5 out of 5 Magical Coffee Cups
From Goodreads:
The shadows that surround us aren’t always as they seem…
Emmeline has grown up with a gift. Since the time she was a baby she has been able to control shadows. And her only friend and companion is her own shadow, Dar.
Disaster strikes when a noble family visits their home and offers to take Emmeline away and cure her of magic. Desperate not to lose her shadows, she turns to Dar who proposes a deal: Dar will change the noble’s mind if Emmeline will help her become flesh as she once was. Emmeline agrees but the next morning the man in charge is in a coma and all that the witness saw was a long shadow with no one nearby to cast it. Scared to face punishment, Emmeline and Dar run away.
With the noble’s guards on her trail, Emmeline’s only hope of clearing her name is to escape capture and perform the ritual that will set Dar free. But Emmeline’s not sure she can trust Dar anymore, and it’s hard to keep secrets from someone who can never leave your side.
I received this one as an ARC from the publisher and I will admit I let it sit off to the side for way too long. I saw that it was geared towards middle grade and just couldn’t get myself into the right mindset for middle grade. Anyway, I finally picked it up.
Wow, it is a lot scarier than I thought a middle-grade book would be.
The main character is Emmeline and she has the power to control shadows. It’s pretty interesting, I wouldn’t mind being able to hide in some shadows every once and a while. Emmeline even goes as far as to use the shadows to spy on people, I would totally do that, every day. I am such a people watcher and I would love to have the ability to make sure I am not caught. Seriously, public transportation is like my personal soap opera.
Emmeline also has the ability to interact and even speak to her own shadow, Dar. The fact that no one else can hear Dar makes Emmeline a bit of an oddity in her own home. Soon someone comes to the house claiming to have the tools to help Emmeline. Scared and at a loss for what to do, Emmeline turns to Dar for help. The result is the stranger being put in a coma.
It was at this point of the book that I was sort of freaked out. I mean, first off, could you imagine having a shadow that you could speak to and play with? Sound kinda fun to have a constant companion. Then could you imagine if that same shadow ended up putting someone into a coma? You can’t walk away from that type of crazy, it’s your shadow! I tried explaining this book to a few teachers at my school and every time we got to this part they were like “wow, that took a turn.” or “This is a lot darker than I expected it to be.”
I, of course, was sucked into this book and had to know what was going to happen. I will be one of the first in line to get the second book in this series.
Literary Coffee 