Shadows [Mass Market Paperback]

Rhiannon Lassiter (Author)

Book Description

Series: Hex Sci-Fi/Thriller, No 2 | Publication Date: February 1, 2002

A Supercomputer Brain In A 15-Year-Old's Body...

Meet Raven, The Most Dangerous Teenager In The World....

Tomorrow has come. And now, in 24th-century London, the CPS, a secret government agency, is on a mission to seek and destroy the Hex-human mutants with supercomputer minds. Raven is next on their list. Soon she will be in their hands....

Raven and her brother Wraith have rescued their sister Revenge. Now the CPS and the tyrannical, repressive European Federation have declared all-out war. But as Raven battles her captors, who will lead the Hex? It is up to Wraith to forge a union between the Hex and the rebel group Anglecynn. But can newcomer Ali lead the fragile alliance into a battle beyond her wildest dreams and rescue Raven before it is too late?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grades 5-8--This is the second installment in a trilogy about a band of mutant teenagers in 24th-century London. Though the premise sounds like a B movie, this fast-paced novel is more engaging than one might expect, and should appeal to fans of the genre. "Hexes" are outcasts who possess a particular gene that gives them extraordinary mental and technological powers that even they don't fully understand. The European Federation views the race as terrorists, and has vowed to destroy them, so Hexes have rarely lived beyond childhood. Only a small band of renegades, led by the powerful and mysterious Raven, has managed to evade government capture. Here, Raven and her clan join forces with a powerful antigovernment group to battle the CPS, a secret government agency leading the extermination effort. Raven is temporarily captured, but the ending makes it clear that she emerges stronger than ever. Lassiter shows considerable skill in drawing readers into her world of tomorrow, while still creating characters that will be recognizable to today's kids. Raven is about as strong a female protagonist as there is, but within the Hex clique, there are the same insecurities, jealousies, and peer pressures that kids experience in their own lives. Though second in a series, this installment reads fairly independently. The only drawback is that the book contains a handful of careless grammatical and typographical errors, but none so serious that they will detract from readers' enjoyment.
Ronni Krasnow, New York Public Library
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Reviewed with Rhiannon Lassiter's Ghosts.

Gr. 7-10. These two paperbacks continue and complete the Hex trilogy, with the same nonstop action that distinguished Hex [BKL Ja 1 & 15 02]. In Shadows, teen hacker extraordinaire Raven is captured by the secret government agency bent on destroying the Hex-human mutants. She's put into the clutches of the very scientist whose secret laboratory she had destroyed and who wants to plumb the depths of her supercomputer mind. Meanwhile, her fellow Hexes are forging a partnership with an antigovernment rebel group and making plans to rescue her. In Ghosts, the new amalgamation of Hexes and rebels comes out of hiding to wreak havoc on the world's computer system and discovers the system itself harbors an evil, threatening blackness. This trilogy is tautly plotted and exciting to the max, and the conclusion will satisfy readers. Sally Estes
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Simon Pulse (February 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743422120
• ISBN-13: 978-0743422123
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,790,416 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best science fiction series I have ever read., July 29, 2004

By 

Teenreads.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shadows (Mass Market Paperback)

At the age of 15, she is Europe's most formidable opponent. Her weapon of choice: a computer (although she is a dead shot with a blaster). Her name is Raven, and she is a Hex, which makes her existence illegal. Hexes aren't supposed to live past their first breath of life, but some survive until their gifts become apparent and then they are killed. When Raven was nine, she realized that she was a Hex, and having no desire to die, she hid herself in the ganglands and evaded death by hacking into the main computers and telling them that she didn't exist. This isn't too hard for her, because a Hex's power lies in his or her ability to enter a computer and roam around the Net the way most people enter a room and walk around. Whenever she wants to appear in public, Raven simply creates a false identity for herself and tells the computer that it is legit. This ability makes her the ultimate hacker.

Now, thanks to a stunt Raven pulled six months ago while rescuing her sister --- now known as Revenge --- along with two other Hexes, Ali and Luciel, she stopped being invisible and became Europe's most wanted criminal. Dr. Kalden, a scientist who specializes in running unthinkable experiments on young Hexes can't wait to get his hands on the girl. It won't be long before his wish is granted. With Raven out of action, it is up to her brother, Wraith, to pursue an alliance with the rebel group Anglecynn. And Ali, who spent the first 18 years of her life as a spoiled rich kid, must lead a tiny group into a battle against the European Confederation itself.

Rhiannon Lassiter's HEX: Shadows is a worthy sequel to HEX. What makes Lassiter such a great author is her characters. Raven is one of the most interesting protagonists that I have ever come across. She's not a particularly good person, she doesn't really care about other people. In any other book she probably would be the bad guy. The only reason she isn't is that the "bad guy" in the HEX series is Kalden, who is much, much worse than Raven. Plus, Raven, for all her faults, has a lot of integrity, which makes her an interesting blend of good and evil --- and makes the HEX series one of the best science fiction series I have ever read.

--- Reviewed by Kathy Hale

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent., July 31, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Shadows (Mass Market Paperback)

I really enjoyed this entire series--this book in particular. It's a wonderful addition to the world of future drama and life and I especially liked how the author expanded the plight and dangers of Hexes by including more of these genetic mutants in Raven's ranks. Raven, her brother Wraith and the streetrat Kez have been on the opposing side of the law one way or another and have united together to take a stand against the unjust ostracization of the genetic mutants known as Hexes. Raven being one of these mutants is the indesputible leader of the rebel faction, and through her practical and sometimes maniacal methods keeps her comrades from the ever watchful eye of the Security Services and the feared CPS. But what happens when the CPS take Raven away from the faction, forcing them to act on their own without her guidance? Read and find out for yerself, mate.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-be-read sequel, April 8, 2002

By 

Erika Soeterik (Auckland, New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shadows (Mass Market Paperback)

Raven become the most wanted person in London. Not only has she acted as a terrorist and tried to spread the truth - but she is also a Hex and her very existence threatens the European Federation. Forced into hiding by her daring acts in the past, Raven decides to use the knowledge they gained from the raid on the secret lab to learn more about her own Hex abilities and how to bring the ability out in others. When Raven is captured by the enemy her newfound allies must battle on without her - and it will not be an easy fight without Raven.

Sometimes the sequel is a bomb, but in this case the sequel was better than the first because you already know all the history and the reasoning behind the novel. I loved the new characters that were brought into the story because they added more scope to the story without distracting from Raven and the other Hexes.

I can't wait to read the next novel in this series and I hope that there will be more. I read this book in one sitting because I couldn't bear to put it down. If you like this book you should try "Violet Eyes" by Nicole Luiken - it is similar yet different enough to be interesting in it's own right.