Review: Shadoworld by Rachel E Kelly

Hey all, Dani here once again.

Today I bring to you my review for the fourth book in the brilliant Colorworld series by Rachel E Kelly. Now, I’ll go ahead and toss a little disclaimer on here: yes, I was asked to be a copy editor/beta reader for this book. However, that does not alter how I review books. I will say that I am thrilled to have been asked to be a CE/beta for the upcoming fifth book, Dreamworld, because reading book four dragged me all over the emotional spectrum and left me desperate for more (especially more Mike).

ahem.

I should also probably state right now that the summary for this book actually has spoilers for the earlier books in the series, so if you haven’t read the rest of the series you’ll probably want to stop right now and come back to this later (or jump past the summary section to my review section, which I will keep as spoiler free as possible). Of course, you could also say oh well and just read on, allowing yourself to be spoiled. The choice is yours.

Anyway, let’s jump into this review, shall we?

Summary

After facing the dangers of a death-touch, marital separation, and even terminal cancer, Wendy thought she could handle anything. But losing her supernatural abilities has turned out to be much harder to adapt to than she thought. Now Wendy is pregnant, and the prospect of being a mother has Wendy fearing she’ll never find “normal”.

With Robbie’s birth, Wendy finds renewed determination to love life the way she once did.

Her new found faith is shaken, when she learns that Robbie’s life will be cut short by a genetic disease.

In the midst of mourning for the life her son won’t have, Wendy finds that Mike, Gabriel’s brother, has been incommunicado for many months. Immediately following the news of Mike, Wendy receives cryptic instructions from Robert, her Uncle, that just might be the key to saving her son.

The answer to both Mike and Robbie take Wendy to Los Angeles. But within an hour of her plan landing Wendy is taken, and Robbie isn’t the only one whose life is on the line.

My Thoughts

Oh my goodness, you guys! This book ripped out my heart…metaphorically speaking anyway. There was a lot of emotional meat to this story and it kept me reading into the wee hours of the morning. Plus there was also some action, because the “bad guys” are getting serious.

Actually I read this book about a week before the publication date, and it was while I was working with Rachel at Wizard World Ohio Comic Con in September 2015. We talked about the book on Saturday and then I went home that night and finished the book. When I made it to the convention center Sunday morning, I told Rachel that I had ended up crying in my bed for an hour thanks to an event concerning one of my favorite characters. I understood why it had to happen, and in hindsight, there are clues that it is coming, but it dragged me through the emotional ringer. I was devastated.

One of the main focuses of this book is Wendy going out to Los Angeles to try and find out why Gabe’s brother Mike hasn’t contacted anyone in several months. The other reason Wendy goes to Los Angeles concerns a health issue for a family member, but I won’t say any more than that because it is a bit spoilery if you haven’t read the rest of the series. –and if that’s the case, please go pick up copies of the whole series. You can find my reviews for the other three books here: 1, 2, 3.

Rachel has described the series as the first three books being Wendy in training and learning about who she is and what she can do. In Shadoworld the training wheels are off and everything gets more serious and complex.

That is an understatement.

In the first three books we follow Wendy as she learns about her abilities and harnesses them, but in this book she is “normal” and it is fascinating to see her try to navigate the world now that she has actually grown used to connecting to the colorworld and using her abilities in day-to-day life. It’s like watching somebody who had perfect sight have a serious accident that renders them nearly blind. She has to relearn how to interact with others and how to act in certain situations since she had begun to rely on her particular super-skills.

A lot of the book pairs Wendy with Mike, and I think they make a pretty cool team when they have to work together. And man, we finally find out why Mike acts the way he has for the past three books…and that revelation is what made me fall in love with him.

This is absolutely, without question, the best book in the series to date, and I’m not sure how Rachel Kelly is going to top this amazing page-turner, but I don’t doubt that she will. Especially since she has said that book five will have more Mike. Oh, and apparently book five also clocks in at nearly double the length of the first book. It’s going to be massive and amazing, and I cannot wait to read it.

I also can’t wait to get my hands on the Illustrated Edition, which should be coming soon. I will definitely announce when both Shadoworld Illustrated and Dreamworld are available.

Obviously this book was a 5 star read for me.

Where to Buy

As with the rest of the series, you can find the books on Barnes & Noble or Amazon, or you can buy your copy straight from Rachel Kelly via the Colorworld store and have a signed copy sent to you.