Shadowfell begins as Neryn and her father are on the run to avoid being captured by wicked King Keldec. He’s against anything even remotely connected to magic and will destroy anyone found capable of it–that is unless it’s used for his purposes. Neryn has known from a young age that she has special abilities and now she’s being chased for that very reason. Her treacherous journey of deception and discovery make for a captivating story. Throughout the story you frequently want to shout out to Neryn, telling her to do this or don’t trust that person or to just listen! Of course if she did, that would make for a boring, short story. Marillier does a tremendous job of building characters with many layers, creating an attachment to them and adding suspense. This intriguing book is full of magic, deception, love and war. I can’t wait to see where Marillier takes us in book two, Raven Flight!

Shadowfell is the first novel of a three-book series. Book two, Raven Flight is already available and the final book, Caller, is due to be published in 2014.

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Random House

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  43 religious exclamations (characters say “gods” in fantasy world).

Violence/Gore:  Many (28) brief instances including implied occurrences of violence; verbal threats; character’s family dying; second hand report of war; young character having to watch brother dying and grandmother tortured; fist fight; character dragged by hair; dog kicked; character getting strangled & dragged; character being chained up and receiving non-life threatening injuries; fantasy violence of characters being brain damaged through telepathic means; fantasy characters wounded & killed; animals dying, being killed and hunted; boat lit on fire with people on it; hanging & beheading. Few (2) extended instances including a non-detailed war scene; instance with creepy ghosts.

Sex/Nudity:  Many (22) instances including holding arms and hand; walking arm in arm; touching back; cuddling and sleeping next to each other to keep warm; hug; touched face; kiss; women removing clothes for the purpose of bathing; imagining male character undressing female character with his mind; female character worried about what male characters would do to her; female character getting fondled.

Mature Subject Matter:

Character’s family dies, lying.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Characters drinking (similar to a bar scene); character getting drugged to force sleep.