Series: The Shadow Grail Book 2
Author(s): Mercedes Lackey, Rosemary Edghill
Genre: Contemporary Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher/Year: Tor Teen/2011
Book 1: Legacies Review
Mercedes Lackey Webpage
Rosemary Edghill Webpage and Blog
Synopsis: Spirit and her friends Burke, Loch, Muirin, and Addie have managed to defeat the evil force that has been killing students at Oakhurst Academy for the past forty years—or so they think. When a series of magical attacks disrupts the school, Doctor Ambrosius calls upon alumnus Mark Rider to secure the campus—and start training the students for war. The only student without magic, Spirit doesn’t trust Mark or his methods. She knows that Oakhurst isn’t safe. And if Spirit and her friends want to live long enough to graduate, they have to find out what is really going on—before it’s too late.
Rating:
Review: Two things really stood out to me in this second book in the "Shadow Grail" series--Spirit is an overwhelmingly negative person and the combined pop culture knowledge of Lackey and Edghill is staggering. The opening few chapters alone have half a dozen different Star Wars references never mind the movie, comic book and even some anime references spread throughout the rest of the book.
To center on Spirit's negativity for a moment; I fully understand and agree with a character who later on validates Spirit's grief and inability to move past that grief. Its been more or less implied by almost every character of importance to Spirit that she can't find closure for her grief so she is instead projecting her need to fill that hole in her life by being useful. The fact that she is right every single time is a bit more irritating.
We're not given a real understanding as to why her friends keep rocking back and forth on whether Spirit is crazy delusional or scarily accurate in her fears, its implied that the Oakhurst rings they have to wear have something to do with it, but that's about it. So its frustrating as a reader to hear Spirit try to discuss reasonable fears, with justified reasoning and proof to back it up in some cases, and to have her friends say 'Oh Spirit get over yourself and try not to make everything about you.'. Every. Single. Time. It becomes a predictable pattern as Spirit voices a concern, in increasing measures of urgency, her friends pooh-pooh it at first telling her to calm down, Spirit wonders if she's going insane, something occurs and ta-da! Her friends all come streaming back to apologize. This happens at least three times.
So maybe Spirit overall negative attitude is understandable, just doesn't make it easier to read. She expends more energy worried that her friends aren't more worried then she does proactively fighting what has her so afraid. When she finally realizes this its almost too late to actually do very much but contain the situation enough so no one else gets hurts.
Meanwhile the book itself jumps around a bit in terms of pacing. Without knowing the particulars of the plotting process I'm left to wonder if they meant for this book to be two separate editions or just didn't realize how much they were trying to pack into the page length. We find out more about the ones who may have been behind the Wild Hunt in the first book, Legacies, as well as the mirror side to that fight. A character, Elizabeth, is introduced mostly as a plot device to explain to Spirit (and her friends) that entire backstory.
Between Spirit worrying about her friend's non-worry, her grief, her schoolwork, several mandatory school functions and a budding romance we're introduced to a couple of plot details that I wish had more play time. The fact about the group's rings, the alumni and possibility that things conspired to bring the kids to Oakhurst and the arrival of Mark Rider and his troop of diabolical merry minions.
Character development wise a guess I had about two character's feelings in the first book are confirmed, though to the credit of Lackey and Edghill the reveal about the one is handle in a 'And so this is who this person is, doesn't change anything does it?' at least until the Sadie Hawkin's Dance. Spirit also bluntly points out to Muirin, Addie and Burke that they were sheep until her and Loch showed up, in regards to what was going on at the school.
While this one didn't bowl me over, it did keep my interest going as to the true nature of Oakhurst and answers to the mysteries therein. With the ending to this book being as explosive as the ending to the first, I certainly hope this means Book 3 will give us a showdown to remember.
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