In the Shadows by Kiersten White



In the Shadows by Kiersten White

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Whoa! This is a must read! I'm still debating between 4 or 5 stars so we shall see by the time I'm done writing about it. This book is a hybrid; text chapters alternate with sequential wordless illustrated pages. The paintings are fantastic and awesome! They are intriguing and spellbinding but also completely confusing as they are telling a different story from the text. I'm going to keep this vague as it is imperative not to give away what happens here. Thus, the text story had me completely enthralled; a dark, gothic tale of secret societies and mystery. The illustrated story starts off completely baffling but gradually one is able to understand the illustrated plot from the text but trying to put the two together left me frustrated and eager to continue at the same time. It is not until the final pages that the complete tie-in between the two stories is revealed and then it was such a big WOW moment for me, that I was majorly impressed. When I was finished I went back and just "read" the illustrations and the story made complete sense second time through and it also made perfect sense to do this, as if we are supposed to go back and re-read the pictures. It all comes down to whether the confusion was worth the outcome and ... (I've just read the illustrated story a third time now!) yes it completely is! A really unique book! I've never seen two plots put together like this before and it's proved to be quite the experience. This is a keeper. I hope to re-read the whole thing again sometime seeing how the text and pictures go together when I know the outcome.



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