Shadows

By: Terry Schott

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's Summary

Dawn belongs to a secret group of teenagers who play a cloak and dagger game on their cell phones. Her world is turned upside down when the players' actions begin to affect reality, and not in good ways.

©2014 Terry Schott (P)2017 Podium Publishing

Bait and Switch

Would you try another book from Terry Schott and/or Luke Daniels?

I'm still planning on reading the story that was previewed, twice now, at the end of the book.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Soulstone: The Skeleton King by J.A. Cipriano

Which character – as performed by Luke Daniels – was your favorite?

I want to say Sam but the lack of character development makes him a hard sell.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Shadows?

The subplot with the two girls and the "Red Hoodie". It served no purpose towards the story and only made the characters more foolish. Those pages could have been used to flush out the Kyle character.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

The preview of the next book was better than the entirety of this one

My wife and I have greatly enjoyed the series thus far so it pains me to say this, but what the heck? The last book left off with so many interesting things going on and this one is set way before the timeframe of any of the other books, so the previous story is left hanging until the next book.

Worse, after getting to the end of this one finally, I found myself thinking "oh, ok... that's interesting I guess, but why'd we need a whole book for it?" rather than the "my mind was just blown so many times" feeling I had after the learning the truth about Tygon and who the timeless really were, etc in the previous books.

I'm sure the story in this book will be expanded on in one of the following books and it will all tie in nicely, but I didn't like the way this "interlude" was done at all unfortunately.

Of course, Luke Daniels gets his "I wish there were six stars" rating as usual!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

This seems to be a stand alone story

There doesn't seem to be any tie in between this book and the rest of the series. A decent listen, following the same basic premise as the rest of the series, but not related as a story in any way.

Filler story. You won’t miss a thing if skip this one.

Just as we come to accept sci-fi novels to be rivers by default, now we get filler episodes.
Luke Daniels also disappointed me as a narrator, by almost only separating characters as old ones and young ones.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

A rather interesting book...

This is a rather interesting "detour" in the game is life series. Highly recommend as it gives you a very interesting and informative view into a major characters origins in the series.

Was this the same the series???

Not at all what I expected, I kept waiting for the story to make sense and connect to the rest of the series....then the book was over...and I was sitting there like....WHAT THAT'S IT! Disappointing and a a waste of a credit!

Skip book 5 and go to book 6.

Great job!

Love this series. The multi layered approach to the game keeps one guessing and waiting for the next big surprise to drop. The author surely has the entire thing mapped out because he introduces new components very fluidly. Great job! Luke Daniels is an awesome reader. Bring on the next one.

I have no idea how that is connected to the rest

Desent story bit too many stubit things don't by "smart people". But the idea is interesting.
But I don't know if that happens in the dream game or tigon. If this is origenstory about Mr. Thorne but wasn't his real name the same as Brandon's on tigon

Somewhat standalone but excited to see how it fits

The Publisher's summary doesn't do this justice at all. I'll give a brief explanation that will help tie it into the larger series a bit more without giving any spoilers. But, I can tell you that this book could pretty much stand on its own and still be a solid sci-fi installment.

Based on the "preview" at the end of Book 4 - "Virtual Prophet" - this was not initially planned as Book 5. I would guess that as Book 5 took form, Mr. Schott felt like adding some background. This is very similar to what he did with Interlude: Brandon. Yes, this book appears to actually be a prequel to the rest of the series, taking place even before Interlude: Brandon, given the age of a specific character I won't name.

There may have been more clues I missed, but it's difficult or maybe impossible to say *where* exactly this book takes place within the series, however. "North America" is specifically mentioned, but cities are only designated numerically. I don't think I remember in Interlude Brandon there ever being any Earthly geographic locations named in the world where young Brandon lives. Nevertheless, my feeling is that this book takes place in that world and is a buildup to the war that is brought to a standstill in part by General Donovan. I am only guessing though. Judge for yourself.

It was a little slow going at first as I tried to orientate myself, but once I just let go and stopped trying to figure out connections to the previous books, I was able to enjoy it. It's worth it. You will meet one character in particular who appears to be of some mysterious importance to the whole multiverse. You probably know who I am talking about.

In summary, if you go into this book hoping for more on True and Danielle, you are going to be disappointed. Just give it a chance and understand that while the book does indeed fit into the larger series, we probably won't learn until the next book exactly how everything clicks. I just hope Mr. Schott and Luke Daniels can bring us the 6th edition sooner rather than later.

Feels unfinished

I expected this to be a continuation of the story revolving around True and Daniel but no such luck. I recognized some characters but no idea where this book is [time and place] I'm relation to Earth/Tigon (excuse my spelling). Story was interesting and I cannot wait for the next installment and for the reveal. A lot was explained and many new characters introduced. I don't feel as though they were fully developed as I never really became attached or emotionally invested in anyone. I understand that is probably difficult with how much information was presented and how Shepards had to be explained but left with an air of mystery and intrigue. Overall I am pleased ave would recommend for fans of the series. Fantastic narration as usual.

Mediocre at best

I love the series, but this book was a drag to listen to. I really enjoyed all the books so far, but for this one I couldn't wait for it to be over so I can get back to the main story.

Another broken recording

I only buy these Audiobooks to listen to on my Amazon Echo but this is another one that is broken, book 4 was too. Amazon own both companies, you'd think that somebody would test these things. This one gets to chapter 19 then starts again from the beginning. I thought maybe chapter 40 might be chapter 20 but it wasn't. Alexa couldn't play any chapter above 35 at all

0 of 1 people found this review helpful