Official Review: A Shadow Named Envy: Guardians
- Rachaelamb1
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Official Review: A Shadow Named Envy: Guardians

3 out of 4 stars
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A Shadow Named Envy: Guardians by Kyle Stumpp is a fantasy novel set in our modern-day world. Because of profanity and some adult content (drinking, violence), the recommended age is for 12 and up. I would add that the ending is also unsutible for younger children as they may find it disturbing.
Long before animals and humans roamed the earth, there were shadow people. At odds with the humans, who wielded dangerous light-producing sticks, the shadow people moved underground. Now they only come to the surface for special jobs such as: scavenging for human objects, observing, or mimicking humans.
In the City of Shade, a baby shadow with unusually bright eyes, is thought to be cursed. The Shadow Council comes after him, ready to destroy, but the quick-thinking of his mother saves his life. Hubert, an old janitor, finds and brings the baby home to his wife, Dot. From there things unfold as Hubert and Dot try to raise the baby, who they name Envy, to be a normal shadow. All the while they must keep his identity as the “cursed child” a secret.
There are excellent descriptions and world building in this book. I could easily picture the City of Shade as I read. Sometimes descriptions can bog a book down, but the author does an excellent job making the descriptions flow smoothly. Aside from a few slow parts in the beginning, the book has a nice amount of action. There are some twists in the book and I was never 100% sure what was going to happen next.
I absolutely love the main characters, Hubert and Dot. Not only are they cute together, with their playful bantering, but they are realistic. They both make mistakes and sometimes hurt one another, but you can tell that they truly love each other. The other characters are also well-written, but Hubert and Dot are truly a memorable pair.
Unfortunately, the book does contain a few grammatical errors. There were not many and certainly did not take away from my enjoyment of the story, but there were enough to notice that it could use some more editing.
The ending of a story can either make or break an entire book. I was disappointed with the way the author chose to end this book. I can not say much because of spoilers, but I feel like the end does not fit in with the rest of the story. I was planning on giving the book 4 stars, but with the grammatical errors and the unsatisfactory ending I can only give it 3 out of 4 stars. It is a shame because I really enjoyed the majority of the book and would have liked to give it a perfect score.
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A Shadow Named Envy: Guardians
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- kstumpp
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Thank you again, have a pleasant evening.
- LivreAmour217
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- Rachaelamb1
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Thank you, I did notice you were using GB English, which is no problem at all. There are some basic errors aside from that, probably things that just got overlooked when you were editing.kstumpp wrote:Thank you for the very thorough and fair review. I'm sorry you did not enjoy the ending, but I suppose it can not be to everyone's taste! I will be sure to double check about the grammar, although it may be due to the use of GB English opposed to US English?
Thank you again, have a pleasant evening.

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- Rachaelamb1
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Thank you, I hope you enjoy it! The world building is especially interesting.LivreAmour217 wrote:Great review! This sounds like a fascinating and original fantasy novel. I will have to check it out!
-- 12 Feb 2016, 20:35 --
Thanks! I really liked the book up until the end. It is the first book in a series so I am interested to see what the future books will be like. Hopefully they will have a better ending.bookowlie wrote:Great review! I am glad you were able to appreciate the positive parts of the book, even though you didn't like the ending.
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That is true, the other books in the series may end better. I enjoyed everything else so I think this is a series I will keep my eye on.Lorirainbowbright wrote:Sounds like a very interesting book. Great review because it makes me want to read it. Even though you didn't like the ending, but at least it's a series so maybe if you read the next one in the series it will have a more satisfying ending for you.
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- Rachaelamb1
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Thanks! I suppose it can be a little creepy if you think about it too much...especially since we can't escape our shadow. Of course this book talked more about shadows that are not attached to people, but I think future books will have more about people and their shadows. That might be a little more creepy.kimmyschemy06 wrote:Sounds like a very interesting book, but.. personally I find the idea of 'shadow people' creepyGreat job on the review!
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The cover does fit well with the book. The concept is interesting and well executed. If you do give it a try, let us know what you think about it.anonanemone wrote:This sounds like an interesting concept. The cover also seems well paired with the story. It sounds like you enjoyed the book for the most part so I think I would be willing to give it a try.

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