A review by juliawitmer
Grip of the Shadow Plague by Brandon Mull

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I really enjoyed this read! It took me a while to get through it because life is crazy, but overall it was good.

More in depth (potentially spoilery) notes:

- I think the plot seems a little out of nowhere sometimes, kind of like the author was discovering it as he was writing it. Which isn't inherently bad. But it did make the plot feel a little disconnected at times.
- I think previous books set up the plot twists in this book well
- I liked the characters! Except for Seth. He seems unrealistically cruel sometimes (like being not only willing but EXCITED at the concept of sacrificing multiple fairies' lives [against their will, under direct command from someone they can't say no to] for the sake of Fablehaven...??? What's that about)
- I'm enjoying the development of Kendra and her newfound abilities
- I liked the new characters that were introduced
- did feel like there was a bit too much info dumping sometimes. But that may be a personal preference thing!!

All that being said, I did enjoy this read. It didn't feel like a waste of my time, and I read hundreds of pages worth of the book in one sitting because I was very invested (rare for a slow, grew-up-with-access-to-the-internet reader like me).

Like the rest of the books in the series, I would suggest this to young Christian readers because of the terminology of demons being used in a way that may be confusing or unsettling to some Christians (depending on personal convictions).

Overall a 3.5 out of 5 stars!