Friday, October 26, 2012

ARC Review: The Shattered Dark by Sandy Williams

The Shattered Dark (Shadow Reader #2)
By: Sandy Williams
Release Date: October 30th!!! (Psst that's the day before Halloween!)
Publisher: ACE (Division of Penguin)
Source: E-ARC provided from publisher via Netgalley
Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads:
WARNING!!! THIS IS A SEQUEL, AND MAY CONTAIN SOME SPOILERS FROM THE SHADOW READER, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED...

McKenzie Lewis has a gift. It allows her access to a world few have seen, and even fewer can comprehend. It’s her secret. And it exists in the shadows… 

McKenzie was a normal college student, save for one little twist: she’s a shadow reader, someone who can both see the fae and track their movements between our world and the Realm. It’s a gift for which she has been called insane, one for which she has risked family and friends—and one that has now plunged her into a brutal civil war between the fae.

With the reign of the king and his vicious general at an end, McKenzie hoped to live a more normal life while exploring her new relationship with Aren, the rebel fae who has captured her heart. But when her best friend, Paige, disappears McKenzie knows her wish is, for now, just a dream. McKenzie is the only one who can rescue her friend, but if she’s not careful, her decisions could cost the lives of everyone she’s tried so hard to save.

My Thoughts:

Fans of THE SHADOW READER will not be disappointed with Williams sophomore novel!

The action is just as heart-pounding and the love-triangle develops further, in the most unexpected ways.

Sandy took McKenzie and her gang all over the map in this sequel, I could never anticipate where they would end up next, loved the mystery of the adventure. McKenzie sets out to rescue her best (and only) friend, Paige who's been captured by the enemy, but are they really the enemy? New characters and a love interest for Paige, leave McKenzie wondering who the true bad guys are. Unlikely alliances just may develop out of this instalment.

We get to learn a lot more about McKenzie in THE SHATTERED DARK. Williams gives the reader a few glimpses of her past, and we find out how she and Paige met and the reason they became best friends. We're also given flashbacks into the ten-year relationship between McKenzie and Kyol, after reading these scenes, the reader can understand why McKenzie was willing to wait so long for Kyol to finally commit. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE Aren, but I wouldn't write Kyol off just yet!

Because we do learn something important about Aren's past loyalties that has the chance of ruining any possibility of a future between him and McKenzie, romantic or otherwise. (I'm not going to spoil the mystery, so you'll just have to read to find out :) but I will say, it's pretty big, and pretty relevant to McKenzie's past.)

I can't believe I have to wait another year for the next instalment, it's almost enough to make me wish I waited until the entire series was released. It's really just that good! Definitely on my top 5 list of best Urban Fantasy, and that ending? It will leave you screaming at both Aren and McKenzie.

My only complaint about THE SHATTERED DARK is that there wasn't enough one-on-one time between McKenzie and Aren, but only because there was just so much action going on. I look forward to seeing where Sandy will take these two (and Kyol) in book #3!

Do NOT pass up this series, if you love Urban Fantasy with a kick-butt heroine, and two devastatingly handsome Knights-in-shining-armor, than you must reader Sandy Williams' SHADOW READER SERIES! I look forward to book #3.

Happy Reading!!!

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