Shadowland
Author: Meg Cabot
Series: The Mediator #1
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy, Mystery
Release Date: December 28, 2004
Publisher: HarperTeen
Summary:
But the very first day at her new school, Suze realizes it’s not that easy. There’s a ghost with revenge on her mind…and Suze happens to be in the way.
First Sentence: I guess I should explain.
My December Epic Recs partner is Renu from The Page Turner, who recommended me to read Shadowland by Meg Cabot. Thanks for the recommendation Renu!
My Review:
I’m sure most of you have heard of the famous Mediator series written by the well-known Meg Cabot before. I’ve heard it talked about everywhere – on goodreads, on twitter, and sometimes even in the blogosphere even though the Mediator series was published a long time ago. I’ve been meaning to read the Mediator series for a long time now, but never had the initiative to, until now.
Before I officially start my review, I’ll have to say this: I think I read Shadowland a long time ago before, but I’m not sure. I probably read it back then in high school, when I was a freshmen, way before I stopped reading books originally. (For those of you who don’t know, I stopped reading books sometime during the beginning of high school, but picked up reading again during my senior year.) While I was reading Shadowland, I had the strong impression that I’ve read it before and as I read on, I started remembering more and more things that would happen. Those events that I remembered later actually happened in the book. I don’t know if this effected my experience of reading Shadowland or not, but it probably did by a little bit.
I love Suze, the main character of Shadowland. Suze has such a fun and great personality. Suze is sarcastic, punches ghosts in the face, and isn’t a pushover. She’s also a know-it-all, but in a good way (the kind who doesn’t get all in your face about it and brags about how smart they are) and doesn’t care about the social norm of high school. Suze befriends unpopular people and stands up for them; she can care less about popularity.
Shadowland was a cute book. Yes, that’s exactly how I’ll describe it, “cute.” Everything about it was cute: the characters, Suze’s personality, the action, all except for the evil ghost of course. Although Shadowland was a cute book, it wasn’t memorable at all and could be easily forgotten. It also didn’t leave any impression on me.
Despite Shadowland being a cute book, I wasn’t sold on the romance between Suze and Jesse. I feel like they didn’t spend enough time together during the whole book and one-fifth of the time they did spend together was spent on Suze thinking that Jesse was going to kiss her. Honestly, I felt like Suze didn’t know Jesse well enough to be daydreaming or even thinking about that. I would be more sold on their romance if they actually spent more time together.
The main reason why I gave Shadowland such a low rating is because there’s a lot of other books like this one out there, specifically the last book I just finished reading, The Dead and the Buried by Kim Harrington. The overall plot is basically the same: There’s an evil ghost that has some kind of history that wants revenge on someone and would stop at nothing to get it. The main character would of course find some way or another to get rid of the ghost. TO be honest, there probably is a lot of other books like this one out there.
Overall, Shadowland was a cute read, but just not the kind of book for me. I’ll definitely recommend this book for people looking for a quick, entertaining read though.
This seems pretty cool. The synopsis reminded me of The Sixth Sense movie, quite an interesting idea for a book. I’m sorry it wasn’t for you. Nice review! I was also wondering what is this epic rec? Would people be able to participate?
Angel (Spare Reads) recently posted…ARC Review: Defy (Defy, #1)
I haven’t heard of The Sixth Sense movie, so I can’t really comment on that. :P
And thank you!
Epic Recs was created by Amber from Books of Amber and Judith from Paper Riot where they partner you up with someone that has similar tastes to you and you recommend your partner a book and your partner will recommend you a book. The December Epic Recs link is found here. The January link isn’t up yet though.
Kelly recently posted…December Epic Recs: Shadowland by Meg Cabot
I’m so sorry this series didn’t work out for you :(( I personnally adooooore it. This, as well as the Princess Diaries series, is what got me into reading YA in the 1st place. I don’t read as many Meg Cabot books as I used to but she’s still a favorite. I would tell you to continue on with The Mediator series, as it gets better as it goes but then I can understand your qualms about it to some extent now that i’m older and have read a bazilion books ;) but how could you NOT fall in love with Jesse ?? no no no no no no no. This needs to be corrected immediately ;))))))))))
Don’t worry Noemy, I will definitely continue on with the series. I know it’ll be more unique and probably better because the other books can’t have the exact same thing as it did in the first one. :P
Jesse was okay, but I didn’t really see the appeal of him. Maybe next time?
Kelly recently posted…Judge A Book By Its Signature: Avalon – Mindee Arnett
I heard it wasn’t Amazon that was delivering late but UPS and FedEX were a mess this year. People were really made about it!
Angie recently posted…Comments… do you read the replies???
Huh? Did you somehow comment on the wrong post? o:
Kelly recently posted…Judge A Book By Its Signature: Avalon – Mindee Arnett
I keep hearing about Meg Cabot, but I’ve never read anything from her. Maybe I should? (She seems quite famous.) I’m not keen on this cover though! It’s a little tacky/cheesy for me.
Cait D recently posted…Did I or did I not like SHATTER ME? (I can’t figure it out.)
I personally LOVED Meg Cabot’s Airhead series and she wrote TONS of books, so you definitely should try one of her books.
Yeah, the cover of Shadowland doesn’t do much for me either Cait. It’s so…plain.
Kelly recently posted…Judge A Book By Its Signature: Avalon – Mindee Arnett
Hi, Kelly. I think I’ve read this way back when I was still considered a young adult. Anyway, I totally forgot what the story is all about so thanks for refreshing my mind. I really think YA contemporary is more Meg Cabot’s strong points. Her mystery and fantasy books are really not up to mark.
Natasha@ Primrose Musings recently posted…Waiting on Wednesday #57: Red Rising
Hi Natasha! :D
I’m not sure about that, but I did like the Airhead series a lot more than I liked her Abandon and the first Shadowland book so far, so maybe it is true. A lot of other people LOVED The Mediator series though.
Kelly recently posted…New Year Blogging Resolutions & Goals + A Cover Guessing Game + Giveaway
Great review! Meg Cabot books are usually good for a light read to me. ;)
Thanks Cali! (:
And yeah, Shadowland is definitely a light read. It’s just so fluffy.
Kelly recently posted…New Year Blogging Resolutions & Goals + A Cover Guessing Game + Giveaway
I love Meg Cabot, so I’m sorry to hear this wasn’t quite your cup of tea. I think she’s got a variety of stuff that appeals to different readers, and I know that while I liked this book, I preferred the Missing series that she wrote. I may have to go back and check out the Mediator series again though, I think Cabot’s teen stuff is good, light reading.
Sarah @ Girl!Reporter recently posted…2014 wishlist – to read and to see
I haven’t read Meg Cabot’s Missing series before, I’ll definitely have to check that one out.
From what I’ve read of Meg Cabot’s books (Shadowland, Abandon, Underworld, and her Airhead series), I agree, her books are definitely perfect books for light reading.
Kelly recently posted…New Year Blogging Resolutions & Goals + A Cover Guessing Game + Giveaway
Its sad that you didn’t like this book. Yes it’s a cute book but very entertaining. I loved it from the start and would definitely encourage you to continue with the series as it gets much more exciting ahead. Personally I loved Jesse. So no comments on that. And Suze is one of my favorite kick ass heroines right next to ‘Rose’ from Vampire Academy.
Gayatri recently posted…House of Night Read-A-Long
I personally don’t like the cover ): I have heard lots of Meg Cabot, but haven’t read a book by her yet. Some people seem to love her work, but others just don’t really enjoy it. I don’t know yet, I guess I’ll be reading one of her books anytime soon. Too bad this series didn’t work out for you.
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