Bibliographic Information:
- Title: The Shadows Between Us
- Author: Tricia Levenseller
- ISBN: eISBN 9781250189974
- Publisher: Feiwel and Friends an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC
- Copyright Date: 2020
Genre [Format]:
- Action Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Mystery [eBook]
- none
- Reading age: 13-18; grade level: 7-12 (TeachingBooks.net, 2021).
Plot Summary:
Alessandra wants to become the most powerful queen of the land and the only way to do that is to marry the Shadow King, plot his demise, then take over the kingdom. She finds her way to the court of the Shadow King and ends up saving his life instead. They fall in love but it’s complicated as he cannot commit his physical self to Alessandra who is someone who gives in to her carnal needs without any shame attached to it. Alessandra must find out who is trying to murder the Shadow King and maybe discover who murdered his parents the prior year. Just maybe this will lead to her ruling the kingdom as his equal partner. But first, she must use her cunning and wiles to find the murderer and prove that she is not the one who intended to kill the Shadow King in the first place.
Alessandra wants to become the most powerful queen of the land and the only way to do that is to marry the Shadow King, plot his demise, then take over the kingdom. She finds her way to the court of the Shadow King and ends up saving his life instead. They fall in love but it’s complicated as he cannot commit his physical self to Alessandra who is someone who gives in to her carnal needs without any shame attached to it. Alessandra must find out who is trying to murder the Shadow King and maybe discover who murdered his parents the prior year. Just maybe this will lead to her ruling the kingdom as his equal partner. But first, she must use her cunning and wiles to find the murderer and prove that she is not the one who intended to kill the Shadow King in the first place.
Twitter page screenshot by K. Reyes 4/2021
Author Background:
Tricia Levenseller is a Mormon author who has penned a few popular YA books including Daughter of the Pirate King duology, and another upcoming (May 2021) fantasy duology called Bladesmith. Levenseller’s website, Goodreads, and Amazon page all say the same thing: she has a degree in English Language and editing, she lives close to the Rocky Mountains, and she has a dog named Rosy (Levenseller, 2021; Goodreads, 2021).
Tricia Levenseller is a Mormon author who has penned a few popular YA books including Daughter of the Pirate King duology, and another upcoming (May 2021) fantasy duology called Bladesmith. Levenseller’s website, Goodreads, and Amazon page all say the same thing: she has a degree in English Language and editing, she lives close to the Rocky Mountains, and she has a dog named Rosy (Levenseller, 2021; Goodreads, 2021).
Critical Evaluation:
The Shadows Between Us is a fast paced Fantasy and Romance wrapped in a Mystery that resolves itself neatly in the last few pages of the book. It starts out with a matter of fact admission of a calculated murder committed by the narrator, Alessandra, in a fit of rage after being spurned by her first love. Once I moved past questioning the moral dilemma that the character did not seem to possess, I was most intrigued by the main character’s lack of any sense of remorse for any of her actions. She sleeps with whomever she felt like and kept blackmail material on all of them. She is cunning and self-assured, treacherous, villainous and one can’t help but wonder where this would all lead in the end. The romantic love that develops between the Shadow King and Alessandra seems improbable as well as doomed from the start. All we ever find out about the Shadow King is his ability to control the Shadows and possibility for long life (hundreds of years) as long as he doesn’t give up his shadows powers by falling in love with a human.
However, Alessandra solves the mystery of who murdered the Shadow King’s parents and their romance resumes and all’s well that ends in murder. It all seems so far fetched but the narrative pacing is so well done and there’s enough excitement and tension that doesn’t necessarily involve death but more near-deaths that I couldn’t put the book down until I got to the end in one sitting. As long as you’re willing to give up figuring out how their world is created and where they may be and in what sphere, the very existence of the characters becomes more important than their provenance. So with very little world building, the characters are a bit shallow, but the story is fast paced and easy to follow. I’m glad this one was a stand alone and the ending is satisfactory enough.
The Shadows Between Us is a fast paced Fantasy and Romance wrapped in a Mystery that resolves itself neatly in the last few pages of the book. It starts out with a matter of fact admission of a calculated murder committed by the narrator, Alessandra, in a fit of rage after being spurned by her first love. Once I moved past questioning the moral dilemma that the character did not seem to possess, I was most intrigued by the main character’s lack of any sense of remorse for any of her actions. She sleeps with whomever she felt like and kept blackmail material on all of them. She is cunning and self-assured, treacherous, villainous and one can’t help but wonder where this would all lead in the end. The romantic love that develops between the Shadow King and Alessandra seems improbable as well as doomed from the start. All we ever find out about the Shadow King is his ability to control the Shadows and possibility for long life (hundreds of years) as long as he doesn’t give up his shadows powers by falling in love with a human.
However, Alessandra solves the mystery of who murdered the Shadow King’s parents and their romance resumes and all’s well that ends in murder. It all seems so far fetched but the narrative pacing is so well done and there’s enough excitement and tension that doesn’t necessarily involve death but more near-deaths that I couldn’t put the book down until I got to the end in one sitting. As long as you’re willing to give up figuring out how their world is created and where they may be and in what sphere, the very existence of the characters becomes more important than their provenance. So with very little world building, the characters are a bit shallow, but the story is fast paced and easy to follow. I’m glad this one was a stand alone and the ending is satisfactory enough.
Creative Use for a Library Program:
Host a whodunit board game day. Have several tables set up with the game Clue, Whodunit, and One Night. This could all take place in one afternoon or have the boards out all week and set up in a space in the library for brain breaks the first week of May during AP testing week.
Host a whodunit board game day. Have several tables set up with the game Clue, Whodunit, and One Night. This could all take place in one afternoon or have the boards out all week and set up in a space in the library for brain breaks the first week of May during AP testing week.
Speed-Round Book Talk or Short Book Trailer:
Power, that’s all Alessandra wants and she’ll do anything to get it. She plans to seduce the Shadow King, marry him, and then murder him so she can rule all the kingdoms he has conquered. Except, she is starting to really like the Shadow King and someone already beat her to the attempted murder thing, so now she has to save his life, but at what cost? Read the book and find out.
Potential Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation:
Graphic violence and murder abound in this book and add the unapologetic sexy scenes and libertine nature of a few characters and I can hear several parent complaints. However, reading about sex or violence does not equate with promoting them. Libraries are protected under the first amendment right to freedom of speech. “When the Supreme Court considered whether a local school board violated the Constitution by removing books from a school library, it held that ‘the right to receive ideas is a necessary predicate to the recipient’s meaningful exercise of his own rights of speech, press, and political freedom’” (American Library Association, 2019).
Reason for Inclusion:
Fantasies tend to be part of a larger world building series that never seem to end but this one claimed to be a stand alone and for non-fantasy readers, this book would be appealing as it truly will not require nor will one expect or wish for a sequel.
Fantasies tend to be part of a larger world building series that never seem to end but this one claimed to be a stand alone and for non-fantasy readers, this book would be appealing as it truly will not require nor will one expect or wish for a sequel.
Watch the official book trailer for this book (Fierce Reads, 2020).
REFERENCES
American Library Association. (2019, July 13). First Amendment and Censorship. Advocacy, Legislation & Issues. http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/censorship
Fierce Reads. (2020, August 24). Official Trailer for The Shadows Between Us by Author Tricia Levenselle [Video file] YouTube. https://youtu.be/uc76g6mvgPU
Goodreads. (2021). Tricia Levenseller (Author of The Shadows Between Us). Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14358948.Tricia_Levenseller.
Levenseller, T. (2021). About. Tricia Levenseller. https://tricialevenseller.com/about/.
More Good Foundation. (2018, October 3). Tricia Levenseller: Mormon Author. MormonWiki. https://www.mormonwiki.com/Tricia_Levenseller:_Mormon_Author.
TeachingBooks.net. (2021, April 11). The Shadows Between Us. TeachingBooks. https://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=67847.
Fierce Reads. (2020, August 24). Official Trailer for The Shadows Between Us by Author Tricia Levenselle [Video file] YouTube. https://youtu.be/uc76g6mvgPU
Goodreads. (2021). Tricia Levenseller (Author of The Shadows Between Us). Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14358948.Tricia_Levenseller.
Levenseller, T. (2021). About. Tricia Levenseller. https://tricialevenseller.com/about/.
More Good Foundation. (2018, October 3). Tricia Levenseller: Mormon Author. MormonWiki. https://www.mormonwiki.com/Tricia_Levenseller:_Mormon_Author.
TeachingBooks.net. (2021, April 11). The Shadows Between Us. TeachingBooks. https://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=67847.
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