Shadowland by Alyson Noel

Wednesday, December 30, 2009


I just finished the third installment of the Alyson Noel’s Immortal series, Shadowland and after several attempts to concisely summarize the story, I have to say that I am not invested enough to continue. While many fans of the series have expressed their continuing loyalty to Ever and Damen’s epic star crossed lover’s saga, I am afraid that Shadowland left me annoyed.

Ever is one reason I was aggravated with Shadowland. In the first two books, Ever managed to earn my respect for dealing with her adversities. After all, she lost her entire family, discovered she had psychic powers, and found the love of her life only to have him almost die too. However, in Shadowland, Ever is self-absorbed with getting even and ignores everything even Damen to reach her end game. I did not see any growth in Ever’s character, instead she remained static throughout the 339 pages, and once again makes an emotional choice that is sure to consume the next book as did her choice at the end of Blue Moon consume Shadowland.

Another factor that became a huge distraction for me was Noel’s use of the word gaze. This word appears on almost every page of the book and sometimes three to four times a page. I actually began counting how many times Noel used it until I was too irritated to bother. Noel also used the word gape way too much.

While I did finish the book, and will probably read Noel’s fourth installment Dark Flame due out in next summer, I can only hope that in the next book Ever grows as an immortal. I believe that Noel’s creation has more to offer, and with more concentration on her characterization,  Ever can become a stronger character worthy of fan loyalty. I also hope that Jude, a new character introduced in Shadowland, will be back. I actually found myself liking him more than I like Damen. 



Rating: 3 Cherries 

2 Delicious Comments:

Anonymous said...

So many readers felt this way. I haven't read it yet, but plan to. I think in my case that I am blinded by love for the story, sort of like readers were with the Twilight series. That's the only explanation why readers would have loved that last book. I have a feeling this will be me when I read SHADOWLAND...lol.

Jan von Harz said...

The story had its good point, which is why I did not abandon it, and will probably read the next one too. I just had a hard time with the writing aspect. Hopefully Ever will make some changes in herself in the next one.

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