Reviews

Shadows on the Stars by T.A. Barron

rochelleisreading's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

wynwicket's review against another edition

4.0

The "good guys" are a little too good; the "bad guys" are a little too cheesy-evil -- still, I've been completely sucked in by this trilogy. The author's world-building continues to impress, as we explore more of the world-tree of Avalon and its connection with

Spoiler

other worlds

. There's plenty of fantasy adventure (including water dragons!), romantic relationships both tender and... otherwise, a healthy dose of tragedy, and a hint of Celtic (and some Welsh!) mythology.

The scene continues to be completely stolen by Nuic the sprite, but the other characters are growing on me as they come into their own, particularly Tamwyn, the reluctant wizard.

I meant to say this about Book 1, but I'll say it now: I highly, HIGHLY recommend this series for teen fantasy fans looking for something a bit more mature than Harry Potter.

hickorynut's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This was a chore to get through and it felt very much as if it was unedited or only lighted edited compared to the first half of the series. So much of it felt like elaborate, unnecessary detail that was originally left out of the first books in the interest of keeping them short and quickly digestible. But this book was over 400 pages of a week long journey for multiple characters, all of which weren't particularly interesting or engaging. It tied in a few things that weren't well wrapped up from the previous book but overall it felt as this book and the former one could have easily been combined into one 400 page book instead of two. The repeated attempts to gain control by Rhita Gawr are beginning to feel so repetitive and boring especially knowing how many generations have passed. There's one more book in this series but I'll have to take a break before getting into it as this one left my interest waning.

snow_turtle's review against another edition

4.0

Depends in the reader but this type of book needs patience and lots of attention.

justine_h's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

eliserose_vdb's review

4.0

Well dang, that was pretty epic.
I believe I read this book in a grand total of five hours, and I can tell you that it was definitely worth the time.
I still felt as though the descriptions dragged on a little more than really necessary—I was totally skipping paragraphs—but the action easily made up for it. The world is so different from any other fantasy world that you honestly don’t know what’s going to happen next; maybe they’ll get attacked by a random man-eating rock? Or perhaps a flower will explode and turn them all into purple birds? (This didn’t actually happen in the book, but I seriously wouldn’t be very surprised)
Scree’s chapters continued to be the best ones, by far, but really the whole thing was great. It‘s all building up to a fantastic finish in the third book.

starship_olympus's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

saracha_reads's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

jmneil27's review against another edition

So excited to read the next one!!

argentrabe's review

adventurous emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0