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The Shade
James Langley's life is over. After an automobile accident leaves him comatose, James' body lies vulnerable in a hospital bed. However, his mind is lost, drifting between life and death, into The Shade. Trapped in a world shrouded by the unknown, he meets Virgil, a mysterious stranger that informs him that his car wreck was no accident; that the man responsible has imprisoned them both, intent on keeping them there. Together they must race against time to get James back to his body in the real world before he becomes the next victim of a malevolent psychopath. Enter the world of The Shade, where the boundaries of the human psyche are pushed to their limits and survival is not guaranteed. A place where death isn't the end, but only the beginning.
342 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2014
5 people want to read
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April 30, 2014
Have you ever wondered what would happen to your soul if you body went into a coma? For James Langley, his body enters "The Shade", perhaps it's his own version of Hell; maybe it's what some might consider Purgatory or Limbo. While in The Shade he meets Virgil, who is a bit of a shady character at first, but eventually gains James' trust to help him learn to survive and reunite with his body in the real world.
I really like the concept of this book. It's not all sunshine and rainbows in this alternate universe (because it looks exactly like his hometown, but deserted and broken) and if you die here, you die in the real world. They have to fight the specters and the wolves (Virgil explains they could be considered werewolves because they can walk upright and they were once men) in order to survive. James is a character that you really can't help but like, well, I guess at the beginning you just feel sorry for him. The love of his life, Angela, has dumped him and didn't even give him an explanation why. But he's a fighter and the memory of his love is what keeps him going. Virgil, as I said, is rather shady at the start. He doesn't want to answer questions and expects James to just follow him blindly. Eventually you learn Virgil's story and really start to feel for him.
There are a few twists and turns that you just didn't see coming. What exactly is Angela's cousin doing in The Shade? How is it he can go from one plane of existence to the other? Who exactly is Virgil and why does he want James to get back to his body so badly? One would think that after all the years that Virgil has spent there he would be happy for some company!
There are some minor grammatical issues; more towards the end of the book. Extra words or words left out. That's never been much to deter me from enjoying a story, as long as it is well written and this story is well written. The plot is well thought out and while not overly complex, it's not 100% predictable. The characters are well developed, but you don't have to go through a thousand chapters to get their backstory. I'm sure that as the trilogy progresses our characters will develop further.
Does James get back to his body? Does Virgil get to leave The Shade? This book ends with an explanation for just about everything and sets the reader up to head right into the next book. I can't wait to see where our characters go and how the story develops.
I really like the concept of this book. It's not all sunshine and rainbows in this alternate universe (because it looks exactly like his hometown, but deserted and broken) and if you die here, you die in the real world. They have to fight the specters and the wolves (Virgil explains they could be considered werewolves because they can walk upright and they were once men) in order to survive. James is a character that you really can't help but like, well, I guess at the beginning you just feel sorry for him. The love of his life, Angela, has dumped him and didn't even give him an explanation why. But he's a fighter and the memory of his love is what keeps him going. Virgil, as I said, is rather shady at the start. He doesn't want to answer questions and expects James to just follow him blindly. Eventually you learn Virgil's story and really start to feel for him.
There are a few twists and turns that you just didn't see coming. What exactly is Angela's cousin doing in The Shade? How is it he can go from one plane of existence to the other? Who exactly is Virgil and why does he want James to get back to his body so badly? One would think that after all the years that Virgil has spent there he would be happy for some company!
There are some minor grammatical issues; more towards the end of the book. Extra words or words left out. That's never been much to deter me from enjoying a story, as long as it is well written and this story is well written. The plot is well thought out and while not overly complex, it's not 100% predictable. The characters are well developed, but you don't have to go through a thousand chapters to get their backstory. I'm sure that as the trilogy progresses our characters will develop further.
Does James get back to his body? Does Virgil get to leave The Shade? This book ends with an explanation for just about everything and sets the reader up to head right into the next book. I can't wait to see where our characters go and how the story develops.
Displaying 1 of 1 review