The Shattered Dark by Sandy Williams

Synopsis:
McKenzie was a normal college student, save for one little twist: she's a shadow reader, someone who can both see the fae and track their movements between our world and the Realm. It's a gift for which she has been called insane, one for which she has risked family and friends-and one that has now plunged her into a brutal civil war between the far.
With the reign of the king and his vicious general at an end, McKenzie hoped to live a more normal life while exploring her new relationship with Aren, the rebel fae who has captured her heart. But when her best friend, Paige, disappears McKenzie knows her wish is, for now, just a dream. McKenzie is the only one who can rescue her friend, but if she's not careful, her decisions could cost the lives of everyone she's tried so hard to save.

Review:
I was a really big fan of Williams' first book, I think if I had to boil it down to one element that took her first book over the top for me, it would be her pacing. It was one of those books you really didn't want to put down, and so I had big hopes for her second book. I am happy to report that The Shattered Dark has the same awesome pacing as her first, and I really didn't want to stop reading until I finished (thank God for caffeine or I never would have made it past 3am).

I really like McKenzie, I feel bad for the hand she was dealt in a lot of respects. I can totally understand her desire to have a more normal life. After the events of the last book McKenzie is literally in the middle of some big time fae events, and the stakes couldn't be higher. And now with her friend Paige missing it just makes the stakes even bigger for McKenzie.

One of things I really love about Williams is the way she paints the relationships between characters. Oftentimes I feel like authors need to take time out of the action in order to give the reader a full sense of the relationships between characters, but Williams has an amazing way of keeping the action jam packed while putting together relationships that the readers not only understand but can pull for. I really enjoyed this book further exploration of McKenzie and Aren. I liked Aren from the minute I read him on the page, so being able to find out more about his backstory in this book was great. Plus I love watching/thinking what is going to happen next between these two. Kyol is also in this book, although not to the extent of the last, but he definitely keeps things interesting.

I think maybe the think I enjoy the most about McKenzie is that a lot of things that happen to her are completely beyond her control, but she makes decisions that are true to herself even when in the hardest of positions. I like that about her. She is really a fighter in every sense of the word. She's super enjoyable to read, and an extremely likable character.

There is so much more I would love to say about this book, but I don't want to give everything away. This book is such a great ride, finding out what is going to happen next is so much fun, so I don't want to ruin that for anyone. But that being said, if you enjoyed the first book, you will certainly enjoy the second. And if you haven't given Sandy Williams a try yet, than you should. She has great characters and amazing action. I can't wait to find out what happens next!

Sandy Williams Guest Post

The Origins of The Shadow Reader World

One of the questions authors are often asked is, “Where do you get your ideas?” Oftentimes, the answer is, “I don’t know,” but in the case of THE SHADOW READER, I can pinpoint the exact moment the idea. Well, not the moment as in the date and time, but I know what triggered the idea: the music video for Evanescense’s Bring Me to Life. About three minutes into the video, Amy Lee is hanging onto the edge of a building. Paul McCoy is standing over her, angry and singing, but trying to pull her back up on the ledge. I loved that song and loved that scene, the dark, desperation of it. It stayed with me long after the video finished, and now, whenever I hear Bring Me to Life, I can picture it again vividly. 

Bring Me to Life hit the airways in 2003. I didn’t begin writing THE SHADOW READER until November of 2008 (three years before TSR was published), so that scene, that idea, simmered in my mind for five years. I thought about it off and on, speculating about what that scene could turn into, and sometime between 2003 and 2008, I became a huge fan of science fiction romance (namely, Linnea Sinclair’s sci-fi romance). I thought this scene would be perfect in a sci-fi book.

I knew instantly that the woman dangling off the side of the building and the man leaning down to save her were enemies. I needed a reason for the man to save her, something she could do that no one else could. At the time, I thought that special skill of hers would be to track ships when they disappeared into space in a flash of light. She was going to be working for the Government at some military installation, and the guy - who excels at crazy, risky schemes - breaks in and steals her away.

That setup is almost identical to what I ended up writing in the first chapter of THE SHADOW READER, only I’d recently fallen in love with urban fantasy, and I’d just finished writing a book where a fae played a small, but important role. I was intrigued by that fae and her people. I decided it would be a good idea to write another urban fantasy, so I took that scene in my head and tweaked it, making it take place here in the real world. Once I found McKenzie’s voice, everything fell perfectly into place.

Other songs have inspired scenes in my head. Music is just so good at capturing anger, distress, love, and fear. When I write, my goal is to reproduce those emotions, only I try to do it using my words, not an artist’s voice. I can’t wait to discover the stories the song-inspired scenes in my head turn into after they simmer for a while.

 
 Sandy graduated from Texas A&M University with a double major in political science and history. She thought about attending law school. Fortunately, before handing over her life’s savings, she realized case studies weren’t nearly as interesting as novels and decided to get an MA in Library Science instead. She worked as a librarian until her husband whisked her off to London on an extended business trip. She’s now back home in Texas, writing full-time, raising newborn twin boys, and squeezing in time to play geeky board and card games like Settlers of Catan, Dominion, and Runebound.

The Shadow Reader by Sandy Williams

There are a lot of books I have been excited about reading, and this was one of them. I found Sandy Williams when I stumbled upon her Magic and Mayhem blog (a blog with her and a couple of other authors whose books I'm also looking forward to reading). I must say that this book did not disappoint.

Part of the reason I was excited about this book is because it involves the Fae. A lot of the urban fantasy books seem to be focused primarily on vamps or werewolves, and I personally believe the Fae are hugely underutilized. Williams did not disappoint, her portrayal of the Fae was quite interesting to say the least, and pulled me in by the time chapter one was finished. I do have to point out that the Fae in Williams' book almost remind me a little of the epic fantasy races that are common to that genre. That similarity, I think for me, made them all the more intriguing.

The book doesn't have a lot of build up to the action, right from chapter one you are thrown into the thick of it, with the book's main character McKenzie being captured right off the bat. Normally I would say this is hard way to get to know the main character, but Williams' manages to not only get the reader to know McKenzie, but also to pull for her. I was right there with McKenzie the entire time, every time she was confused about how she was feeling, I was confused about how I wanted her to feel. Every time she was scared, I was scared for her. I was surprisingly, and refreshingly easy to identify with McKenzie. When I start a new book in a series, sometimes it can take two or three books for me to feel attached to a character, I can tell right now I am already attached to McKenzie, and I want to know what is going to happen next to her.

The book also has a romantic element to it, and it all flows really well throughout the book. It never feels forced on the part of the author, it always feels organic to the character. Not only that but any scenes involving romantic elements were written really well, there was no cheesy descriptions or euphemisms, which only helped to make the actions more organic and truly helped the plot along.

Another thing that I want to point out is that this book takes place in the middle of war. And war is a tricky thing to write. Fighting scenes can often become to chaotic and make it for the reader to follow, but this was never a problem for me. I think this was due to the fact it was all from McKenzie's point of view, so it really helped keep things in perspective. I'm also really impressed with the way Williams' portrayed both sides, like she says in the book, every war has two sides. Trying to determine the truth out of those two sides was hard for McKenzie and for me.

I even like the other characters besides McKenzie. Kyol was hard and distant, but when he softened up around McKenzie I can totally understand what his appeal was. Aren was easy to like, and then in certain moments I had the urge the punch him in the face, I think he's a rather complex character and its going to be interesting to follow him. Lena is very much the mean girl, but I could almost understand her point of view being that she's in a hard situation. Kelia was easy to like, she super sweet, but hard when she needs to be. She's fierce about the people she cares about, and how can you not like someone who is willing to do anything to protect the people she loves. Overall the characters were really well fleshed out and enjoyable to follow along with. Williams' brings the characters to life in such a way that it made it almost impossible for me to put the book down. 


Overall, I'm pretty sure I really love this book. I think it has a lot of appeal to a lot of different people. I could easily see paranormal romance people loving this book. I could the average urban fantasy lover loving this book. And truth be told I also think if there are fans of epic fantasy who want to give urban fantasy a try, this would be the book I recommend; it shares a lot of the elements that are popular in epic fantasy but with a fantastic urban fantasy flare. So without question this book deserves a "Great" rating, and I have to say I think this book should be added onto a lot of Christmas wish lists.

 

Check out Sandy Williams website http://sandy-williams.com/ She even has a newsletter! 

And be sure to check out http://www.magicandmayhemwriters.com/ to see Sandy's posts and posts from other authors!