Review: Enshadowed by Kelly Creagh

Title: Enshadowed (Nevermore, #2) 

Author: Kelly Creagh

Rating: 2 Stars

Enshadowed is a disaster; pure, terrifying, earth-shattering literary disaster, hurling your way at velocities too fast to imagine. Ever since I finished Nevermore, I've been dutifully stalking Kelly Creagh's website for any mention of a sequel; a release date, a cover, a summary. Thus, on August 28th when I finally heldEnshadowed in my hands, I was breathless, shaking, and oh-so-very excited. Well, talk about a slap back into reality because it took me nearly five months to read Enshadowed. Yes, you read that right - five months.

If you look up "frustrating" "slow" "dull" "meaningless" or just "Middle Book Syndrome" in the dictionary, this will be the book cover next to those words. In the future, if I ever say a novel suffered from MBS, slap me and direct me to this review, because there is not even one book in the world that suffers from it as much as this one does. Not. One. What I'm trying to say here is that nothing happens in Enshadowed. Absolutely. Nothing.

Creagh's sophomore novel picks up directly where her debut left off, which is possibly its first flaw. You see, this series is not meant to be a trilogy - there isn't enough material for that. Instead, it's really just a duo, but Creagh has a talent for writing long, beautiful and languid phrases, rich with description and detail - so much so that it takes up this entire novel. For 70% of the story we are treated to Isobel as she sees visions, wanders through life shell-shocked from the events of the past Halloween and grieves Varen. In the last 30%, we are treated to a sudden shift into action, into what we think is answers but we learn is just a solid dose of confusion. In fact, I can't even summon up enough emotion to feel irritated by yet another cliffhanger ending - I think I'm just too happy I finally finished this.

You see, the problem with Enshadowed is that there is too muchof the wrong thing and too little of the right thing. Over half of this novel is dedicated to character development, gradually building Isobel's relationship with her parents and charting its changes as Varen's disappearance is prolonged. Out of all the people in the world, I am most probably one of the strongest supporters for character development, but character development without plot is a tragic flaw. Isobel simply pushes aside her parents well-wishes, she does exactly what she wants and makes no effort to conceal her new sense of insanity from those around her. If I could have, I would gone in and just strangled Isobel. Not only was she extremely disappointing as a character, butnothing happened! If Enshadowed had started out from Isobel reaching Baltimore, as she vowed in the end of Nevermore, and giving us flashbacks, building up the familial relationships that Creagh so obviously found important, perhaps then this would have been a better novel. Perhaps.

If all of that didn't sound bad enough - no plot, frustrating characters, too much character development, confusing visions that did nothing for the story - then it all just gets worse with Isobel constantly moping. Nevermore perfectly captured the tense, tender, and enriching relationship that Isobel and Varen shared, but Enshadowed reduces that into an Isabella-Swan-eque pining. I kid you not. Sure, perhaps Isobel isn't running out to dive from cliffs to see visions of Varen, but she's not doing anything a whole lot safer either.

Now, looking back, I can fully admit that the only reason this novel is getting two stars and not one - or zero - is because of Gwen, Isobel's best friend, Danny, Isobel's brother, and Isobel's parents herself. Considering that character development ruined this story, at least those characters shone and I enjoyed some parts of this tale, particularly Isobel's relationship with her parents, brother, and friend. While I do firmly believe that this could have all been condensed, at least into a novella if not just a final installment, at least Enshadowed has strong characters and beautiful writing to offer it some type of absolution.

I will, without a doubt, be reading the last novel. It is, after all, the last book; the one with all the answers that I wish this one had; the one where something will actually happen and not just drag on like a filler. Nevertheless, I won't be making the same mistake twice. I won't be checking Creagh's website anytime soon, I won't be pre-ordering the last novel, and I will keep my expectations so ridiculously low that there is no possible way I can be disappointed. If you haven't read Enshadowed yet, take my advice and skip to Chapter 25. Everything that is worth knowing about this book happens in the last ten chapters and if you want to know everything else, just go back and start from the beginning; it's too much of an effort to read this all the way through. Trust me, I know - I did, after all, struggle with this for five months.