Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Shadowqueen by Debbie Federici and Susan Vaught

Brenden(Bren) and Jasimina(Jazz) have defeated the Shadowmaster, but have also lost Jazz to the cold grip of death in doing so. Bren misses Jazz. He has rebuilt the path with his brother and now all he wants is his girlfriend, Jazz, back. When Bren learns that there is a chance for him to get Jazz back, he sets his mind on taking that chance. But where Jazz is, few have dared enter, and even fewer have come back. Jazz is in Talamadden, and all she wants is to get back to Bren. And with the aid of a blue peacock, she intends on exiting Talamadden and going back home. Jazz needs to get back home. A spy has entered L.O.S.T., and it is Jazz's duty as queen of L.O.S.T., to make sure the spy doesn't harm her people. When, with the help of Bren, Jazz is free from Talamadden, she must hurry with Bren to stop the spy. When Jazz and Bren reach L.O.S.T., they find a battle raging. The battle leads Jazz back to Talamadden with Bren, where the new Shadowmaster lies in wait to kill them.

I liked this book. What I liked about it was the fact that the relationship of Bren and Jazz seemed to be all consuming to Bren and Jazz. When Jazz was in Talamadden, all she could think about was how much she wished she was with Bren, and all Bren could think about was how much he wished he was with Jazz. Jazz had more important matters on her mind while she was in Talamadden, like how was she going to get out or how would she get out in one piece? While Bren had to think about all of his people, and to make sure that his brother didn't do something stupid. When Bren and Jazz reunite, their relationship stays strong and grows stronger even though they act like jerks to each other, and that was the best thing - they could love each other and be complete jerks to each other at the same time. I also thought the book was good because Jazz and Bren continually had to overcome all the attacks on L.O.S.T. while they had to deal with the major problem on how to make their powers separate, or how to get Todd from being a complete jerk. It was interesting to see them trying to stop one thing while they had to fix another.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 8
Reviewer Age: 14
Reviewer City, State and Country: Tucson, Arizona U.S.A.