4.5 out of 5 stars
If Urban Fantasy and Sci-Fi had a baby, that baby would be The Shadow Of All Things. And this little bundle of joy is anything but sugar, spice, and everything nice…which of course I loved! Having this gritty tale take place in New York City was absolute perfection! I couldn’t think of a better backdrop than the city that never sleeps. Honestly everything about this book was grand, the characters, the setting, the plot, and of course the monsters, and their insatiable hunger.
There were quite a few interesting characters, and the POV switched around a lot with chapters. This was very well done and there was never any confusion to what was happening (SO THANKFUL FOR THIS!). It ended up feeling like there was about 4 different stories being told with one common theme, until they all started converging and things really started getting crazy! It was actually pretty brilliant the way this was done, by the end you got the distinct feeling that this new team of “good guys” was starting to form and that their journey was really ony just beginning.
The fantasy element in this book was top notch! There were so many fantastic creatures and beings, good and bad, and I couldn’t get enough of any of them! The Elyuum were a chilling bunch. Houston has a knack for writing such vivid descriptions that you have no problem envisioning every little detail, which can be frightening when he is writing about his monsters. It’s one of the things I love the most about his books! **Side note** If you buy the print version of this book it includes illustrations from Colleen Beauchamp Stiles and you can view 3 of the illustrations that are included in the book, which are AMAZING, on the authors website…http://www.allendhouston.com/allens-blog/category/colleen-beauchamp-stiles
All in all this was a unique, exciting and engrossing read that you won’t be able to put down! I am really looking forward to seeing what happens next in this series, the fact that the first book was so great has left me with very high hopes for the following books! Also, I read the ebook, and I can tell you that I plan on purchasing a physical copy of it like today, I need those illustrations!
I received an ARC of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Bookworm Coalition 