Shadowland

The Mediator, Book 1

By: Meg Cabot

Narrated by: Johanna Parker

Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

Meg Cabot is the New York Times best-selling author of The Princess Diaries series. Susannah Simon is a teenager who can see ghosts. As a bridge between the living and the dead, she gets called on to help ghosts take care of unfinished business. After she and her mother move from New York City to sunny California, Suze meets the sexiest boy she's ever seen, too bad he's a ghost, too.

©2005 Meg Cabot (P)2005 Recorded Books, LLC

A fun read

I loved this book. I'm not a teenager and didn't know it was aimed at that age group when I downloaded it. But I was engaged from the first paragraph. The narrator is perfect for the character Suze. I'm actually going to get the rest of these because I enjoyed the first one so much. Guilty pleasures I guess.

A Delight

What a delightful story. I know this is a teen/YA story but I thoroughly enjoyed it. A decent platform for the start of a new series. Starting with a new blended family, a new school and friends. Suze is a strong character that is kind hearted and wise. She knows what it feels like to be an outsider and refuses to exclude anyone because they are different. Wish more teens would read stories like these, there are definite lessons to be learned.
Johanna Parker did a wonderful job narrating but then she is the reader for the Sookie Stackhouse novels. :)

I'M HOOKED

THIS WAS AN ACCIDENTAL BUY AND EVEN THOUGH IT'S FROM THE KIDS SECTION AS AN ADULT I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED IT AND AM GETTING STUCK INTO THE REST OF THE SERIES. EVEN MY HUSBAND LIKES THE BOOK

Not for adults

I bought this book mostly because so many reviews said it could be enjoyed by adults, but I disagree. The plot is interesting, but the delivery is full of cliches and trite teenage emotions. Almost every character except the main two are flat and obviously exist only to fulfill plot necessities.
The narrator was very good at portraying Suze, the main character. But she also had an annoying habit of speaking unnaturally slowly and deeply when performing male voices. It was eerie and distracted me from the story.
Nevertheless, the plot was intriguing enough to capture my interest so I give this book an overall average rating.

This works for adults

I saw the review by someone that stated this was not a book for adults and con not disagree more. It my be a little cute at times but the story was good and the writer has put enought depth to make it work for grown people. Maybe it is because I so have teenage kids but I very much enjoyed the book and the serries.

Young adult? Only because it's not dirty

I gave this book a try because I like the paranormal genre, and honestly, because it was on sale for $4.95. I will give new authors a try for that price, and this book was a very good choice. The main characters were teenagers, but the writing was in no way juvenile. The book followed the paranormal romance/mystery genre pretty closely with the only difference being that it wasn't dirty. I guess that's what made it young adult, but it in no way effected the storyline. I really enjoyed it, and will probably try another book in this series.

Very bad language for a teen book

I thought this book had a good story and it was pretty well written but I thought it had really bad language for a book directed towards teenage girls. I really loved the Princess Diary movies so I was really looking forward to reading this book but I was very dissapointed with the language. Can't anyone tell a story without using curse words. Very dissapointing. I wouldn't let my daughter listen to this book.

Should appeal to teenage girls

Originally posted at Fantasy Literature

Suze is a mediator — she can see the ghosts of people whose souls have not been able to move on. She helps them resolve their earthly issues so they can go wherever they’re supposed to go. She doesn’t know what happens to them after they go — just that it’s her job to facilitate their departure.

Because of her weird ability, Suze is not a normal teenager. People find her a little strange and she has trouble making friends and fitting in. Now she’s moving away from New York, where she grew up. Her father died several years ago and her mother has married a man in California. She will have a new family, a new school, and a new life. Her mother, who doesn’t believe in the ghosts, hopes the changes will be beneficial for Suze.

As soon as Suze enters her new bedroom overlooking the ocean, she realizes that her “problems” have not gone away. There’s the ghost of a hot guy named Jesse in her room and she’s having trouble dislodging him. Then, on her first day of school at a Catholic mission, the ghost of a girl who recently committed suicide is haunting her locker. So, right away, Suze has two new “clients” to take care of. Fortunately, she also discovers that she’s not the only person who can see ghosts — the priest who runs the school can also see them and he says there are other mediators besides the two of them. He promises to be a helpful resource.

Shadowland is the first book in Meg Cabot’s MEDIATOR series. I enjoyed spending a few hours with Suze. She’s a pleasant protagonist who’s brave, tender-hearted, confident and interesting. There were a few other admirable characters in her story, though some were also stock YA characters (e.g., the beauty queen). Perhaps the most interesting character is Jesse, the ghost in Suze’s room. He’s a young man from the 19th century. We don’t know much about him yet, but I think his storyline, which takes place in the past, will give this series more depth.

I think the best thing I can say about Shadowland is that even though it’s a little shallow and predictable, it didn’t annoy me like most other YA paranormal fantasies do. Maybe that doesn’t seem like much of a commendation, but coming from someone who hasn’t been a teenager in over a couple of decades and who thought teenage girls were annoying even back then, that’s something. Shadowland should be quite appealing to teenage girls (or even boys) and it features a likeable heroine who, so far, is fun to hang out with and makes a respectable role model.

I read the audiobook version of Shadowland which was produced by Recorded Books and narrated by Johanna Parker who I liked quite well. I picked it up on sale at Audible and liked it well enough that I’ll be on the lookout for the rest of the series in future Audible sales.

Absolutely Love..

I absolutely loved this book. It was an excellent read and definitely fun for the older reader as well. It keeps you on the edge of your seat and you really are not sure how things will turn out, for the better or not?
But I was not let down and I don't think anybody else would be either. Read it! :-)

The narrator has an inexplicably southern accent

The book is good. And the narrator mostly does a good job when she remembers to hide her southern "Georgia Peach" accent, It's very out of place considering the main character moves from Brooklyn to California.

A pleasant surprise

I must admit, after hearing extracts of the princess diaries on the radio, I'd pretty much dismissed Meg Cabot as an Author. Which just goes to show we all must eat our words from time to time. I can't remember how I came to listen to an extract of this book, but I was caught at once by the story. The style appealed, being written in a way both children and adults could enjoy. Shadowland turned out to be a gripping, well written book. I was delighted with the author's descriptions of California, a place I've never been to, but which sounds beautiful. Told in the first person, from the point of view of Susanna, the gutsy heroine, Meg Cabot brings her voice across really well. I haven't liked a teen heroine so much since Rose from Vampire Academy. Recommended for lovers of the paranormal.

refreshing

really enjoyed it.quirky and fun read. looking forward to reading the next one very soon

great!

I've read the books before and so decided to give this a go. I loved it and it was perfect for my car journey. The narrators voice is perfect for the story and not at all irritating. Very much enjoyed it.