Shadowverse by J.C. Gallo is really well written and I would rate it 4 out of 5 stars. The storyline, characters and editing are fantastic, but it lost 1 star for feeling just a little too forced on the action. The dialog was smooth and believable which kept the story moving smoothly. The concepts were strong, I believe it could have used just a little more detail about what the characters were feeling or something to make the action feel more realistic. A little something more developed would make this a perfect story.
The further I read into this book, the more I liked it. There is an interesting juxtaposition between the prologue and the book that was always in the back of my mind and intriguing. The character development is amazing in the beginning, pulling the reader in. I checked my progress once expecting to be about 75% through and was amazed that I was only 15%. The book is solid, it’s dense, it’s full. It is difficult to describe without it sounding heavy, but the banter of conversation keeps the tone light while the developing story is solid.
There were a few times I had to go back and reread a bit. I seemed to be confused a bit about what faction I thought I should support. This conundrum is part of what makes the book so interesting. Seldom is it obvious who are the good and evil in real life, why should our books be so cut and dried?
I would be comfortable having this book available in a public library. The characters are not perfect but the violence is pretty generic and not graphic. The interpersonal relationships are fun to read and are good models for younger readers to learn from. This is a good YA fiction piece.
