Shadowland (Rights of Passage 3), Rhiannon Lassiter

(a shorter version)

First things first, I like to review books as I'm reading them. It's less reflective, more immediate (and I can write stuff as I think it, rather than trying to remember what I was thinking). Plus I tend to move right on to the next book after finishing. I will finish this one. Meanwhile...

Peering carefully through the net of her fingers she looked up through the open door and tried to make sense of what she saw.

This is not the first time I've started a series at the end. Nor is it the most confusing, but that's another story.

Perhaps the only way to discover what is realistic is to explore every possibility as it comes to you.

At first I found the switching-between-character-viewpoints a little frustrating. I was just getting to know someone when I'd be moved on to someone else. And there are a lot of characters. However, and possibly due to this, I soon had a good idea of who was who. I also like this layout (in The Two Towers I alternate chapters to keep tabs on both Aragorn and Frodo).

I'm scheduled for Salvage, he said. Whatever that is.

The characters are fantastic. They are mean and angry and selfish, and human. In so many stories the goodies are too good and the baddies are too bad - all kind of obvious and predictable. Here, well... These teenagers think and behave like teenagers.

The entrance to the study was hidden behind one of the curtains.

I joined the characters in their confusion, unsure who to trust or who to believe. I empathised with them as I read their first person narrative, and then with their enemies when I read theirs'. Never does it feel out of character.

In all the known worlds the Great Library is a thing apart.

As for the story, what a world. The Great Library seems jungle-like: beautiful, fascinating, and dangerous, with people like animals coming and going and fighting for survival. The action does seem to be taking a while to get going, though there's still plenty going on...