So there may be spoilers coming below, because I’m feeling sulky and disappointed and cranky. Shadows tries to get there too, but along the way it crashes and burns, and not in a spectacular blaze but just with a damp, smoky fizzle. This is the woman who crafted The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword and Beauty (the first one) and, yes, Sunshine, all of which are gorgeous young adult works with cross-generational appeal set in meticulously detailed alternate worlds.

Which is utterly depressing, because I wanted it to be at least good enough to bring back some of my admiration for this can-be-marvelous writer. I wasn’t going to talk about this book, but then I thought, yes, I have to, because I need to add it to my just-published Most Disappointing Reads of 2013 list. This edition: Nancy Paulsen Books (Penguin), 2013. She lives in Hampshire, England with her husband, author Peter DickinsonĬheck out her blog at by Robin McKinley ~ 2013. Robin McKinley has won many awards, including the Newbery Medal for The Hero and the Crown, a Newbery Honor for The Blue Sword, and the Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature for Sunshine.

And although the two are supposed to be incompatible, Maggies discovering the world will need both to survive. In this dangerously unstable world, neither science nor magic has the necessary answers, but a truce between them is impossible. until earth-shattering events force her to depend on Val and his shadows. Hes from Oldworld too-and hes heard of Maggies stepfather, and has a guess about Vals shadows. Then Maggie meets Casimir, the most beautiful boy she has ever seen. The magic-carrying gene was disabled two generations ago, back when Maggies great-grandmother was a notable magician. But-more importantly-what are the huge, horrible, jagged, jumpy shadows following him around? Magic is illegal in Newworld, which is all about science. Val is from Oldworld, where they still use magic, and he wont have any tech in his office-shed behind the house.

Maggie knows somethings off about Val, her moms new husband.

Shadows is a compelling and inventive novel set in a world where science and magic are at odds, by Robin McKinley, the Newbery-winning author of The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword, as well as the classic titles Beauty, Chalice, Spindles End, Pegasus and Sunshine

Shadows by Robin McKinley