The Shadow Society by Marie Rutkoski

4/5 Stars

The Shadow Society by Marie Rutkoski

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Publication Date: October 16, 2012

Review:

Darcy Jones does not remember anything prior to the day she was abandoned at a Chicago Firehouse. She has been relegated to the foster care system and has jumped families, houses and schools since then. Darcy was a very easy narrator to get to know and listen to. Even though she has had a rough go of life she doesn’t complain and is content to finish school with the good friends she has made over the last year and focus on her art. That is until Conn McCrea shows up at Darcy’s suburban Chicago High School.

Conn was a difficult character for me to wrap my head around. I mean I understood why he did the things he did but at the same time I kind of just wanted to shake both him and Darcy. Their relationship was complicated to say the least and Rutkoski had me guessing if they were ever going to make it work right up until the last page. What these two needed was a nice long talk about their feelings! Actually the relationship was one of the reasons I wasn’t able to give this book 5 stars. I wished it hadn’t been so chaste, a few more kissing scenes or good romantic tension would have really added to the story and made the relationship more believable.

It was actually the supporting characters in The Shadow Society that I loved the most. Darcy’s friends Lily, Raphael, and Jims were total scene stealers! Especially Jims, in the beginning his amazing one-liners had me giggling and rolling my eyes like I do with my own friends. It was easy to feel included by the supporting characters and I was glad to see that they do not disappear from the story when the action revs up.

“Isn't that... isn't that what friends do? They change our perspective on the world. Part of why we care about them is because we love that feeling. The feeling of being changed.”-Marie Rutkoski, The Shadow Society

  

One of the other things I enjoyed about The Shadow Society was the world building. Rutkoski does an excellent job of incorporating Chicago city history, and the great Chicago Fire, into a completely fantastic world. I was utterly engrossed in the world of the IBI and Shades.

Overall, The Shadow Society was a great novel that had me guessing and engrossed the entire novel. I loved the idea of Shades and while this is my first novel involving them I know it will not be my last. I may have just found a new paranormal obsession.

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The Shadow Society by Marie Rutkoski