Release date: August 28, 2012
Publisher: Atheneum Books
Format: Hardcover, 429 pages
Description from the dust jacket:
Varen Nethers is trapped in a perilous dreamworld – a treacherous
and desolate realm where the terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe come to
life. Isobel Lanley, plagued by strange visions and haunted by nightmares of
Varen’s creation, is the only one who can save him.
Isobel knows that her only hope lies within a
Baltimore cemetery. There, in the early morning hours of Edgar Allan Poe’s
birthday, a mysterious stranger known as the “Poe Toaster” will make his annual
homage at the legendary poet’s grave.
Only the Poe Toaster holds the key to the way between worlds.
But great dangers lie ahead for Isobel. An ancient evil, draped in veils of
white, is watching, challenging her for Varen’s affections. When Isobel finally
finds Varen, he is no longer the quiet and brooding boy who once captivated her,
but a dark force, powerful and malevolent.
Could Isobel’s greatest love also be her greatest adversary?
The following review is based on a copy I purchased
myself.
Do not read if you haven't read Nevermore and don't want to be spoiled!!!
Review (no spoilers):
I have waited
for this book for more than a year, with big expectations and not a little fear
for what the novel would hold in store for Isobel and Varen – I was not
disappointed on any of those accounts. Trying to review Enshadowed is difficult for me because there is just no way I can
do this book justice. Anything I say will be bland compared to the experience
of reading it. It made me laugh, it surprised me, it scared me, intrigued me, and
it left me in pieces – as it well should.
The ending of Nevermore left Isobel in the real world
while Varen was a captive in the dreamworld he helped create. Enshadowed picks up a few weeks later.
Isobel has still not found a way to reach Varen but is trying to convince her
parents to take her to Baltimore for a ‘university trip’ so that she can then
sneak off and intercept Reynolds, aka the Poe Toaster, at Poe’s grave and make
him take her to Varen. Meanwhile, she is under a lot of strain because the
police, her teacher Mr Swanson, and basically the entire student body think
that she has at least an idea about where Varen went. Isobel feels terrible for
leaving him behind, even though she was tricked by Reynolds into doing it, and
she is hell-bent of finding him and bringing him back no matter what.
However, there
are signs of Varen reaching out to her in her dreams and Isobel is finding it
harder and harder to distinguish between waking and sleeping, between what is
real and what should not be real. Pinfeathers, one of the Nocs created by
Varen, is haunting her both in he dreams and in the real world. I never thought
I’d say this but I grew to love Pinfeathers. In Nevermore, he plain scared me (though during the re-read I learned
to appreciate his sense of humor) but the Pinfeathers in Enshadowed is changed, and Isobel can no longer be sure about who
is friend and who is foe. The connection between Pinfeathers and Varen is one I
found very fascinating, as are the parallels between Varen and Poe and their
relations to the dreamworld and to the veiled female figure who lured them
there and whom I cannot really talk about without spoilers.
Isobel is a very
strong heroine, refusing to give up even as everyone around her, in the know or
not, tells her to turn her back on Varen and get on with her life, lies to her,
or otherwise tries to hinder her. Comparing her to the spoilt cheerleader she
was at the beginning of Nevermore,
she has undergone incredible growth! And she does not wallow in self-pity, even
though she has reason enough to do it.
Also the minor
characters gain a lot more depth in the sequel: Isobel’s family plays an
important role, we get to know Gwen better and there is also some light shed on
Varen’s parents and his past in general. I’m still not sure I have figured out
how it’s all connected but I have theories ;) Kelly Creagh definitely keeps the
reader guessing, and I loved that!
Of course what I
loved most of all was the wonderful, rich and lyrical prose. Not once does
Creagh resort to a clichéd description; instead, she comes up with wonderful
new similes and metaphors that fit her story perfectly. She creates moods and
scenes that will pull the reader right into the story, at her mercy to be awed
or terrified. Poe’s writing is a phantom haunting the story, woven through it
in an unobtrusive yet recognizable way to those who know his stories and
poetry. And it’s not just random phrases, quotes or allusions – it’s the deeper
themes, the places, the names… I could write an essay just on intertextuality
in this series.
All in all, this
is a wonderfully crafted, dark read full of mystery and its very own brand of magic,
both in the story and in the words Creagh uses to tell it. It will make you
laugh and cry and shake your fist at the injustice of the world, and like the
notes of a certain lullaby, it will haunt your mind for a long time to come.
I could rhapsodize
on forevermore but this is a novel you just have to read for yourself to feel
its full effect. I can’t wait for the conclusion of this trilogy!
P.S.: And yet I
feel I should ramble on because this is too short to possibly do the story
justice… maybe I’ll edit it at a later point. My brain is still too bedazzled
but I had to get this on the page while still ‘under the influence’, so to
speak.
Have you read Enshadowed? What were your thoughts? Predictions? Fears? Favorite bits? Let me know in the comments :)
