Do You like book Shade's Children (1998)?
Yes. I'm reviewing a YA book. (Picture me sticking my tongue out at anyone who has a problem with this.)I've read a lot of YA as an adult, partly because of my own child, who liked to have me read the same books to discuss them, and partly because I like YA SFF. There's often an honesty, a pared down-ness to the stories that attracts me. The flip side is that some authors tend to talk down to their audience, which is depressing and disappointing. Garth Nix has never, ever done this.This is a man of astounding imagination. I would probably read an article about car maintenance if he wrote it. (Due to time constraints, I haven't kept up with his work in the past few years, but I devoured his Abhorsen series and several short works as well.)Shade's Children is characteristically dark, stripped down and focused. You get a minimalist feel from the prose due to the tight beam on the five main personalities and their respective limited views/understandings of the terrifying world in which they live. Is everything completely explained? No. It can't be. Is everything conceptually fully realized? Hell yes. I won't rehash plot or details and I fully encourage the reader to approach this one with as little information as possible to get the full experience since this is a journey of discovery, of putting the pieces together as the characters do.It's tense, it's stomach churning, it's immersive, it's tragic and triumphant.I don't know why this man isn't more famous.
—Angel Martinez
I was pretty surprised coming to this book from Nix's Abhorsen trilogy. I found the change in tone and pace pretty refreshing, honestly. While I love the Abhorsen books, they have a tendency to drag in places, which is one thing this book can't be accused of; I was on the edge of my seat for every page. There is a lot of the standard Sci Fi convention here, but Nix manages to make a lot of it feel pretty fresh by tinkering a bit with the tropes, and giving us a few twists to the standard "Robots take over the world, but the humans are resisting them" story. Probably my only complaint is with the characters; I think his cast was a bit too big, and he would have done well to cut them down a bit and build reader rapport with just two or three. But I did get a good feeling for a few of them and didn't find the characters to be totally one dimensional or disappointing. This is a pretty good entry into the genre, and, while not perfect holds enough entertainment value to keep you amused through it's short length.
—Robyn
Possibly, if this book is read in these days of popular post-apocalyptic stories, one might be tempted to throw this one in with the "ah, someone read 'Hunger Games' and wrote a book" crowd. Now, some of those books fall in the AWESOME category (DIVERGENT), but others can make someone either say, "Ooo, I love that kind of book", or "No more!". Well, luckily, "Shade's Children" was published in 1997! Ahead of the trend! Booyah! Aaaand now it's been re-released, with a new cover.Garth Nix is known (or unknown- get reading!) for his Abhorsen series. Having finally read those (yes, I was a reluctant reader) I was eager to read any other Nix novels. "Shade's Children" is a decidedly different, but similar story. Different, in that it is science fiction/thriller, and similar in Nix's ability to write young people at odds with their environments and others in a convincing and deft way. I won't spoil anything here, but if you might enjoy another one of those "post apocolyptic" thriller-y types, or even if you know you won't, you can read this either way. Because it's fun and good adventure, and it's different with little to no love triangle. Oops. Spoiler!
—Angypants