SHADE'S CHILDREN [Paperback]

GARTH NIX (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: HARPER COLLINS; First Edition edition (2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0007722931
• ISBN-13: 978-0007722938
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (179 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,437,259 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Garth Nix has worked as a bookseller, book sales representative, publicist, editor, marketing consultant and literary agent. He also spent five years as a part-time soldier in the Australian Army Reserve. A full-time writer since 2001, more than five million copies of his books have been sold around the world and his work has been translated into 38 languages. Garth's books have appeared on the bestseller lists of The New York Times, Publishers Weekly (US), The Bookseller(UK), The Australian and The Sunday Times (UK). He lives in Sydney, Australia, with his wife and two children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent science fiction for young adults and adults, April 24, 2004

By 

Claude Avary "West Coast Reader" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shade's Children (Mass Market Paperback)

This young adult science fiction novel from the author of the stunning fantasy "Sabriel" has some striking similarities to "The Matrix," although it was written before the film came out. In the future, enigmatic beings known as The Overlords have made all humans over age 14 vanish from the planet. All the remaining children were rounded up and placed in "Meat Factories" where they are bred to be used as raw material for slave-construct creatures, like Wingers, Trackers, and the fearsome Myrmidons. The Overlords use these creatures to play out cruel battle games for their own amusement.

But a resistance exists: children who have escaped from the dorms and who possess powers that the change in the world has given them. These children work for a being called Shade, a human mind inside a computer. Shade claims to be working at overthrowing the Overlords, but he seems too willing to toss away the lives of the children who serve him. Our four main characters, Drum, Ella, Ninde, and Gold-Eye, come to suspect that Shade has a larger agenda than he says, even as the struggle to defeat the Overlords starts to advance in their favor.

Although not as incredible a book as "Sabriel" (one of the best fantasies, adult or young adult, of the last decade), "Shade's Children" is action-packed, deeply imaginative, and filled with wonderful characters. The book is structured so that between the chapters dealing with the main action are short chapters containing computer read-outs, statistics, interview excerpts, computer self-analysis, etc. This is a clever device that splits up the action and gives dramatic tension to the rest of the book.

The four young heroes are realistic and wonderfully written. Ella, the eldest, and a strong leader who feels the great weight of responsibility. Drum, powerful but sterilized from his time in the dorms. Ninde, a teen-girl at heart with simple loves. Gold-Eye, the newest addition, stunted in language but not in bravery or dedication. In many ways, this novel is his story, his journey of self-discovery. Lastly, there is Shade himself -- and there is much more to him than anyone knows or can even guess.

Older teens and junior high school students who appreciate a mature kind of science fiction that won't insult their intelligence will love "Shade's Children." But I also recommend it to adult science-fiction readers; Nix is a tremendous talent, and he won't disappoint your cravings for action, characterization, and ingenious world-building.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book -- but be prepared, June 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Shade's Children (Mass Market Paperback)

Shade's Children (Garth Nix) is honestly among the best books I have ever read. It is well worth your time to read it, particularly if you are a science fiction fan.

That said, let's get a little warning out of the way first: This book is intensely dark from beginning to end. It is a book designed to frighten you, and it does its job well. The trick is, Shade's Children does not rely on the gory sort of horror Hollywood and even many novelists have introduced to us as of late. Rather, it twists your mind around, leaving out the disgusting scenes and instead realizing God is in the details, and the book uses subtlety that will haunt you long after you have forgotten the blood and guts of the movies.

Shade's Children involves a world decimated by warfare, warfare comitted by enigmatic beings called the Overlords, whose sole puprose is to make war. On a child's fourteenth birthday they are taken to a facility where their brains, muscles and other organs are used to make the Overlords' death machines.

At the center of the storm is a creature known only as Shade, who gives shelter and help to the few children lucky enough to escape the Overlords. However, they also conduct strikes in an attempt to destroy these things that have taken over their world, and as they come closer to succeeding in their goal, Shade seems to become more and more like the enemy they have to destroy.

In short, this is a wonderfully written book you will be remember long after you have finished it. However, as noted, it is *not* something for the kiddies--Shade's Children is the stuff of nightmares. If you are ready, however, there are few books I've read better than this.

~Kei

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An interesting and thrilling read, December 31, 2002

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Shade's Children (Mass Market Paperback)

Shade's Children is, in my opinion a very creative and imaginative book. This is the only book by Garth Nix that I have ever read. The whole idea behind the book is very fascinating, much different from other books that I've read. It is a mystery that is trying to be solved, how all of the adults dissapeared. One day they all just vanished. And then the Overlords came. Nobody knows where or how they came. One day they were just there, and then came their creatures.

Screamers scream singly, all alone;
Trackers track in trios of three;
Ferrets follow in fangs of five;
Myrmidons march in maniples of seven;
Wingers fly in flights of nine.

The Overlords captured the children and sent them to the Dorms, only to stimulate there bodys, for later on their Sad Birthday, they would be taken to the "Central Processing Unit" (i.e. The Meat Factory). Their muscels and brains were to be used only for the creation of creatures. But there is a band of rebels under the guidence of Shade. Children who had escaped the Dorms and been taken in by Shade. Though Shade is not a man. He is not even really living. Is Shade there to help them or is he just using them for his own purposes. Find out.

This book is really excellent and suspenseful. I strongly recommend it to anyone with a liking for science fiction.