With the way Ashes was, I knew Shadows was going to be good, or even better. Ilsa Bick sure didn’t disappoint. I thought Ashes was exhilarating with it’s lush descriptions, amazingly written scenes but Shadows takes it one level higher. You start the book prologue with a shifting perspective – which wasn’t in Ashes and that is your first clue that this book is going to be more engaging. As the book progresses further, you have four perspectives and consecutive story-lines going and you wonder when at least two of them will cross-over. We see through the eyes of Alex, Tom, Peter and Chris/Lena – which practically keeps you holding onto the book with bated breath. Each chapter ends on a mini-cliffhanger, and the next one goes to the other person so basically you are going ‘oh sh**’ in your mind (I did a lot of mental cursing while reading this book) while the storyline just takes you through a roller-coaster of emotions. The old people of Rule are just plain manipulative and straight-out evil, if you ask me and god, was I gritting my teeth whenever Finn came up. That sadistic bastard just wore at my patience. Actually, leaving Grace and Jed at the start, every old person cannot be trusted.

The other great thing about this book was that you get a closer look at the Changed. Since Alex is captured by them (not a spoiler, since this was like the ending of Ashes) and she observed them in their ‘natural habitat’. In Ashes, I visualized them as zombies but in Shadows, I had to change my mental image – the Changed are like every other human being – except that they can’t speak, have the senses of a Bloodhound, have all the cravings (ew!) of a human but just are cannibalistic. The gore and the grittiness of this book series is so realistic, it’s like every post-apocalyptic movie come alive in your head.

The author once again left a cliffhanger – surprise surprise – with Alex’s life again in doubt; the number of times she has survived, man – she must be having a Rabbit’s Foot on her! Tom is on the search for her – and I have been shipping them since book 1. Peter I felt sorry for – no one deserves the ending he had in this book – that’s just plain cruel. What exactly is Finn trying to do – Change him? Also, did Chris die? Because that wasn’t clear enough but I can’t see how he is alive after that scene. Yes, that’s how the endings were left – and with me awake, once again. If I develop a sleeping disorder, it will be thanks to this series.