New
Review by Author :: Chuck
McKenzie
Shades
1 :: Shadow Dance
Sixteen
year-old Nathan Maple
is not having a good day: he's suffering from
amnesia, unable to remember who or where he is,
his disorientation compounded by the fact that
light makes him fade away like a ghost. Nathan
has become a Shade; existing in a state between
life and death, able to use shadows as a means
of instantaneous travel. Which would be pretty
cool - except that there are other creatures lurking
in the shadows. And Nathan - and those he loves
- have become their target.
Given
that Shadow Dance is specifically geared towards
a Young Adult readership, I was pleasantly surprised
to find Robert Hood's
novel extremely adult-friendly. Certainly it suffers
from none of the shortcomings apparent in other
YA works, where readers are talked down to, or
teenage protagonists are presented as two-dimensional
caricatures who say 'Rad!' at every opportunity.
Hood's protagonists are
well-realised, comprising all the layers, flaws,
strengths and distinctly individual characteristics
one would expect in reality. The story itself
is similarly complex; an involving and often frightening
narrative supported by a rich background of fictional
mythology.
Some
fairly weighty issues are dealt with during the
course of the novel, such as the importance of
belonging and of family, and the nature of life
and death. Refreshingly, Hood does not obviously
impose his own views of how people should react
to such things, but instead allows his characters
to deal with, and opine on, these issues (often
unsuccessfully) in their own way. It was primarily
this lack of preachiness (all-too-often apparent
in both adult and YA fiction) together with Hood's
clear and concise writing style, that made me
feel I was specifically reading a YA book. This
is not to suggest that Hood's writing is facile
or simplistic; rather, that his prose is extremely
readable and easy to digest in a way that adult
fiction is often regrettably not.
Aside
from this, there is little to mark Shadow Dance
as 'only' a YA novel (apart from the length of
the book); certainly the novel doesn't shy away
from describing the fear and violence involved
in Nathan's struggle against his terrifying enemies.
Nor does it avoid dealing with the results of
such violence, although the level of actual gore
is toned down more than might occur in an adult
work.
In
a nutshell, Shadow Dance is an extremely absorbing
and satisfying read, which should please readers
of all ages - as well as occasionally make the
hairs on the back of their necks tingle! It is
also the first in a series of four novels (collectively
titled Shades), and I for one am very much looking
forward to reading the remaining books in the
series.
)
