4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Hampered by a lack of direction, February 27, 2010
Sadly, like its predecessor The Stowaway, The Shadowmask read like fan fiction. However, where the Stowaway read like halfway decent fanfic that had ok plot and character cohesion with the exception of the brick wall ending... Well, I guess something broke when this reader crashed into the end of the first book. It picks up exactly where the last book left off, causing me to once again curse a blue streak over the terrible transitioning. My swearing swiftly morphed into multiple facepalms. To save the remnants of my sanity, I decided to treat it with all the respect I would give to a fan fiction story. Suffice to say, it did not fare well.
Most of the first third of book book felt like a romp of "how many characters from The Halfling's Gem can we string together at once?" There didn't seem to be much in the way of plot or character development aside from a few minor points. Those were swiftly drowned out by ten chapters of running amok with next to no plan. It was not particularly interesting to slog though, particularly since it began to chip at my suspension of disbelief in the characters.
The storyline is best described as "silly knees bent running about advancing behavior." I would have wished for the plot to even itself out at some point, but it never really did until the last eight chapters or so. By then, it was starting to resemble swiss cheese. Melted swiss cheese at that. Perhaps the original idea was to show exactly how big a role luck played in Maimun's life, but my patience with the character thinned more and more as the story progressed. Most of the plot felt haphazard, as if situations were thrown at the characters with the sole purpose to see what would happen and little regard for solving the problems the characters had. The framing story was just as silly as it was the first time around, providing a frame but little else of interest. Also, before I get lost in a mire of ranting, the book has the same "I ran into a brick wall" feeling that The Stowaway had. I am pretty sure that this should have been a two book series.
Quite a bit of my frustration stemmed from the first person narrative voice this book adheres to. Don't get me wrong, I love it when it is done well and I find character studies fascinating... assuming there is something interesting to them to begin with. The first book had enough contemplation and story logic that the inner voice wasn't annoying nor did it feel particularly limiting. However, with the Shadowmask the action seemed to crowd out most things character related. Then time spent alone with Maimun's thoughts frequently turned to blaming other people for his misfortunes and misconceptions. This would be ok if he snapped and asked someone in the know about what was going on once in a while (and maybe advance the plot progression past randomness), but he seemed stuck in this "I know everything" phase that began to grate on me. I started to look forwards to Robillard and Duedermont attempting to apply some semblance of common sense and discipline to Maimun. For someone spending a lot of time on a ship, the kid sure had a fuzzy concept of how ship discipline works. Asbeel was an absent menace most of the time and was not fleshed out further. Maimun was his own worst enemy.
The other thing that bothered me with this style of first person voice was the use of description. I'm used to it being extremely visceral, regardless of what age level the book is geared for. It felt dry and empty, lacking of any but the most intense of emotions and even those seemed flat. I started to long for perspectives from the other characters because Maimun just wasn't holding my attention the way that a first person narration should. everyone else was more interesting and more active than he was.
There were aspects of the book that I did like. Robillard made me happy every time he showed up. I was completely sympathetic with Duedermont's take on Maimun, since it so closely resembled my own. I was a bit happier through the last few chapters of the book because at that point something plot-like had begun to creep back from wherever it had wandered off to. It was frustrating to finally feel like the narrative was moving again only to have the book end.
There wasn't much to this book and it really didn't seem to advance the overall plot as well as it could have. Coupled with the issues I had with the narration and the ugly transitioning between this book and the last, I can't say that I hold out much hope for the final installment.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Flamingnet.com Top Choice Book-very suspenseful!, February 26, 2010
The story of a boy's adventure is the only thing keeping
him alive. A pirate that will kill him if he doesn't tell
his tale has captured Maimun. So he tells his story about
how he travels with a mystical cloak and sword to find a
stone that made him very lucky. Secretly, as he tells the
story, he plans an escape and hopes he can make it out
alive.
The Shadowmask is a very suspenseful book.
Though Maimun is currently trapped by a killer pirate his
story is enough to keep him alive. I can't wait to read
the next book when he has the stone that he was literally
aching to get back. Anyone who enjoys adventure and
suspense will eat this book up.
Reviewed by a young adult student reviewer
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