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The Shadowverse
Until now, Johnny Sparks' life was perfectly normal — that is, stuck in college studies and always looking around the corner for something greater. But after an encounter with a mysterious stranger, he and his lifelong friends are imbued with incredible powers — at last giving his life meaning.But this dream soon disintegrates once one of the friends is taken by a resurrected alien warlord named Titan. In a rescue effort, the remaining group travels across the stars in search of the only possible aid — a legendary, immortal warrior missing for centuries.During the spectacular journey, the team must join forces to reclaim their friend and stop a sinister scheme devised against humanity by Titan and his vast empire. The millennia in the making conflict for the soul of reality is set in motion, but even if the group prevails, they risk losing what it means to be human.
428 pages, Paperback
First published November 21, 2018
60 people are currently reading
118 people want to read
About the author
J.C. Gallo
2 books66 followersJohn-Clement Gallo is a 21-year-old Christian author of The Shadowverse, a Science-Fiction Superhero novel. He enjoys astronomy, history, astrophysics, ambient music, sports, and is also a trumpet player. While living in Houston, Texas, he was the youngest person (11) to become a licensed RC pilot. On the other hand, he is ranked a black belt in Taekwondo and Hapkido, though he is very unassuming and tends to keep that accomplishment a cool secret. Currently, he lives in Orlando, Florida with his family, trying to outlive the constant heat.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
September 24, 2020
DNF @ page 270
"ARC Provided By Author in Exchange for An Honest Review"
(P: Poor)
I decided to end this, because it seemed not to get any better. (I rate it, because I read more than half of it.)
Interesting Prologue
But that ends here
execution of this interesting concept was rather poor
Boring start
Slow pace in general (because telling some unimportant matters)
Confusing narration, I think it was omniscient & everyone's thought was up in the air, not a fan.
Many boring unnecessary stuff had been told, like it could get summed up in a paragraph or two but it went on in 4-5 pages.
The writing style & sentences was Great, but made it hard for me, as a not native English. I read a lot of English books, but this one was difficult. I opened a dictionary once in a while; it was full of heavy words. The reasons I read it slowly. It wasn't fluent.
So I was likely to close the ebook most of the times & open a dictionary instead.
The story was sci-fi but not believable & the characters' conversations were just boring & not realistic.
Many unnecessary use of Cusswords
Not an interesting main squad; they acted childish, joked even in the tense situations, saving the world isn't a fun business, they should be fully concentrated, not make jokes of every unimportant stuff. (if they do, it must've been boasting in front of the enemy, not make stupid mirthless fun of everything like Cool Name!) In general they were a bunch of arrogant idiot brats. & I actually preferred those parts when the main characters weren't there & the scene was a memory or something from another POV.
Not enough great fun moments.
Not enough excitements.
Many Long conversations, boring, without achieving anything. (somehow some of them were like Inside jokes, the problem was I was outside)
& Sometimes dialogues in a group of 5-6 people was going on without any mention of who said that; it was confusing.
Many unnecessary scenes. I actually skim-read some parts.
Many confusing technology without any purposes.
I like sci-fi, I like superhumans, I admire the attempt of this young author, but i guess this one wasn't for me.
"ARC Provided By Author in Exchange for An Honest Review"
(P: Poor)
I decided to end this, because it seemed not to get any better. (I rate it, because I read more than half of it.)
Interesting Prologue
But that ends here
execution of this interesting concept was rather poor
Boring start
Slow pace in general (because telling some unimportant matters)
Confusing narration, I think it was omniscient & everyone's thought was up in the air, not a fan.
Many boring unnecessary stuff had been told, like it could get summed up in a paragraph or two but it went on in 4-5 pages.
The writing style & sentences was Great, but made it hard for me, as a not native English. I read a lot of English books, but this one was difficult. I opened a dictionary once in a while; it was full of heavy words. The reasons I read it slowly. It wasn't fluent.
So I was likely to close the ebook most of the times & open a dictionary instead.
The story was sci-fi but not believable & the characters' conversations were just boring & not realistic.
Many unnecessary use of Cusswords
Not an interesting main squad; they acted childish, joked even in the tense situations, saving the world isn't a fun business, they should be fully concentrated, not make jokes of every unimportant stuff. (if they do, it must've been boasting in front of the enemy, not make stupid mirthless fun of everything like Cool Name!) In general they were a bunch of arrogant idiot brats. & I actually preferred those parts when the main characters weren't there & the scene was a memory or something from another POV.
Not enough great fun moments.
Not enough excitements.
Many Long conversations, boring, without achieving anything. (somehow some of them were like Inside jokes, the problem was I was outside)
& Sometimes dialogues in a group of 5-6 people was going on without any mention of who said that; it was confusing.
Many unnecessary scenes. I actually skim-read some parts.
Many confusing technology without any purposes.
I like sci-fi, I like superhumans, I admire the attempt of this young author, but i guess this one wasn't for me.
January 1, 2019
I love a good fast paced sci-fi action thriller, and I picked up this book expecting it to be a kickass blockbuster. The book started with a lot of fun with Johnny and his best friends getting special powers when another friend Rose being kidnapped by Titan, an alien lord. The 4 are then sent across the galaxy to rescue her and save a missing warrior too.
The author John-Clement Gallo has packed the story with action from the get-go. I don't think I took a deep breath since I started reading this book. There was a lot of information thrown at me.
BUT
I tried loving the book, but it didn't love me back and take me along for a ride. I was left a bystander. The story, for me, had more of a feel of a comic book, where a good backstory was lacking. The whole book did not have a cohesive feel for me to really enjoy it.
The story kept going at a high pace without seeing if I was going along with it. At one point, I had to abandon loving it and just skim read it... And it didn't seemed to care.
Well, on to my next read...
The author John-Clement Gallo has packed the story with action from the get-go. I don't think I took a deep breath since I started reading this book. There was a lot of information thrown at me.
BUT
I tried loving the book, but it didn't love me back and take me along for a ride. I was left a bystander. The story, for me, had more of a feel of a comic book, where a good backstory was lacking. The whole book did not have a cohesive feel for me to really enjoy it.
The story kept going at a high pace without seeing if I was going along with it. At one point, I had to abandon loving it and just skim read it... And it didn't seemed to care.
Well, on to my next read...
February 1, 2021
Given a free copy in exchange for an honest review through VoraciousReadersOnly.com.
For maybe the first third of this book, I was planning on giving it two stars, or maybe even three if it got more engaging, but then it went ahead and was super sexist and racist, so one star is the best it's getting. Not that those two inclusions are the only reason I'm scoring it so low either.
I'll start with the writing itself. The style was clunky and needs some SERIOUS editing. There are whole chunks of it that need to be removed completely, and to be honest, I don't think it was edited at all, considering the number of times there'd be additions that made no sense. There would be moments of dialogue, where a character would say they're going to do something and the response another would give would be 'Neither will I', which was apparently agreement despite being literally the opposite. There were metaphors crammed into completely ridiculous places. One of the later chapters contains the phrase 'He narrowed his eyes thinner than a razor blade' which is by far from the worst offender, but it's the only one I remember right now. There's absolutely no need to try and make the language fancier with things that don't make sense like that! You can just write 'he narrowed his eyes' and it works fine. I also found there was far too much dialogue, and because of that, there were far too many dialogue tags.
The worldbuilding was awful, because we never actually learnt anything about any of the worlds. They visited like three different alien planets and there was barely any information about any of them, it's more like the author just picked out a fun name for a setting and decided the work was done.
The four main male characters were all the same person. Not literally, maybe, but they had literally the exact same personality, which is part of the reason I have a problem with the dialogue tags. There is literally no other way to tell them apart when they're speaking aside from knowing exactly who is talking. The only differences between them were their names and the powers they got. The mentor character or the old hero of legend or whatever archetype you want to group him into was literally just that. He was an archetype with no actual fleshing out of his own and no original backstory. Speaking of original backstory, one of the main characters' was literally just Superman's, practically ripped word for word. Three characters had tragic pasts that involved a parental figure getting killed in a car accident. Three whole characters had this exact same story, of the six main cast.
The plot was pretty standard for a sci-fi superhero novel, with a big bad wanting to take over the earth, with very few original additions - I'll give credit to the ShadowVerse itself for being something mostly original, if based a little on other ideas, but the other dimension was so barely used and was essentially a quickly put together reasoning behind everyone's powers so it didn't exactly have its own merit. The pacing of the whole thing was so bizarre. It felt like the author just saw a superhero film and then tried to transfer that into a novel form, which doesn't work with them being extremely visual pieces of media. A chapter would be made up of pages and pages of random exposition that got incredibly boring that I barely skimmed it, and then you'd get to a fight that somehow managed to be extremely short but also way too over-described at the same time.
The same things seemed to keep happening over and over. They'd go and fight the bad guy on his ship and then lose and go back to where they were originally. And then they'd go and fight the bad guy on his ship and lose and then go back to the same place. And then they'd go and fight the bad guy and lose, etc, etc.
Speaking of the bad guys, Titan was so irritating and not even in a fun bad guy way. He was hammy and had boring motivations and was clearly just a way for the author to impose views they have but didn't want to attribute to the good guys into the story. Why in the hell are the good guys agreeing with the big bad about the motive behind his plans? Why do they just leave the bad guy be at the end of the book and frequently talk to him as if he's a debate partner rather than someone trying to take over the known universe? It's such a strange way to go about setting him up. I found Solis was actually pretty interesting, but he got literally no development and did practically nothing for the entire duration of the novel, so there was no chance for him to be cemented as maybe a good character.
So, onto the sexism! There were eight named female characters in the novel. Five of these characters' main attribute was 'wife' or 'mother'. Three of them were killed off to further male character development. One of them had the pleasure of only being in two pages of one chapter, for the sake of the main characters to call hot and then steal from. One of the three that were fridged was the only non-white woman in the entire book. She also had no lines at all, despite appearing three or four times. She, along with one of the female main characters, were both brainwashed and had someone else's will forced upon them for the majority of the novel. The only female character that was centre stage in the group of heroes was not at all centre stage and the author seemed to forget she even existed at certain points. On more than one occasion, I read words very similar to 'the boys followed their mentor' and then suddenly the female character would speak, with absolutely no indication she'd joined the group.
The racism part comes under the previously mentioned mentor. Having a centuries-old Asian man serve as a teacher to a group of white people is a racist trope in and of itself, but the author described him at one point using the offensive term 'oriental' and then claimed he used to be a Samurai, but then apparently refused to actually name Japan as the country he came from. He, and his wife who was killed off for his male angst, were the only two characters of colour, aside from two men who were both described as African-American and had no other distinguishing factors at all, in their two sentences of inclusion.
There was also a section towards the end of the novel, in which Titan says he wants to be blue-eyed and blond-haired to come across as perfect to the world, which is straight-up literally a Nazi thing for the author to write. And yeah, even if you make the argument that 'it's what the world has a beauty standard' you'd be wrong, because the beauty standard is hugely different in different countries and communities and there are far more people who don't think blue-eyed and blond-haired than do.
Following on from this, Titan also claims he is Jesus Christ, 'Mohammed', Allah, Yahweh, Krishna and Buddha. No god there, though, despite Allah and Yahweh being literally just the translated word for god in the respective religions. Mohammed spelt exactly like that, despite it being Muhammed the prophet, and the idea of both Muhammed and Buddha being intangible figures, despite having both been actual literal human beings who are documented to have lived and interacted with the world around them, even if they were also spiritual leaders. Quite frankly, it was a mess, and while I'm not sure whether it'd be classed as racism, it's certainly religious insensitivity and roundabout prejudice.
A final word, please don't buy or read this book. If it were just a case of a clunky, poorly-written novel, I wouldn't say half so much about it, and I'd love to encourage the writer to continue. As it is, it needs some serious editing work and my advice to the author is to research before you write, rather than just shove in whatever the hell you feel like would suit the fantasy that you want to live. Women are more than just props for romance and for men to feel sad about, and other religions and people of other races do actually exist and should actually be treated with some kind of respect.
For maybe the first third of this book, I was planning on giving it two stars, or maybe even three if it got more engaging, but then it went ahead and was super sexist and racist, so one star is the best it's getting. Not that those two inclusions are the only reason I'm scoring it so low either.
I'll start with the writing itself. The style was clunky and needs some SERIOUS editing. There are whole chunks of it that need to be removed completely, and to be honest, I don't think it was edited at all, considering the number of times there'd be additions that made no sense. There would be moments of dialogue, where a character would say they're going to do something and the response another would give would be 'Neither will I', which was apparently agreement despite being literally the opposite. There were metaphors crammed into completely ridiculous places. One of the later chapters contains the phrase 'He narrowed his eyes thinner than a razor blade' which is by far from the worst offender, but it's the only one I remember right now. There's absolutely no need to try and make the language fancier with things that don't make sense like that! You can just write 'he narrowed his eyes' and it works fine. I also found there was far too much dialogue, and because of that, there were far too many dialogue tags.
The worldbuilding was awful, because we never actually learnt anything about any of the worlds. They visited like three different alien planets and there was barely any information about any of them, it's more like the author just picked out a fun name for a setting and decided the work was done.
The four main male characters were all the same person. Not literally, maybe, but they had literally the exact same personality, which is part of the reason I have a problem with the dialogue tags. There is literally no other way to tell them apart when they're speaking aside from knowing exactly who is talking. The only differences between them were their names and the powers they got. The mentor character or the old hero of legend or whatever archetype you want to group him into was literally just that. He was an archetype with no actual fleshing out of his own and no original backstory. Speaking of original backstory, one of the main characters' was literally just Superman's, practically ripped word for word. Three characters had tragic pasts that involved a parental figure getting killed in a car accident. Three whole characters had this exact same story, of the six main cast.
The plot was pretty standard for a sci-fi superhero novel, with a big bad wanting to take over the earth, with very few original additions - I'll give credit to the ShadowVerse itself for being something mostly original, if based a little on other ideas, but the other dimension was so barely used and was essentially a quickly put together reasoning behind everyone's powers so it didn't exactly have its own merit. The pacing of the whole thing was so bizarre. It felt like the author just saw a superhero film and then tried to transfer that into a novel form, which doesn't work with them being extremely visual pieces of media. A chapter would be made up of pages and pages of random exposition that got incredibly boring that I barely skimmed it, and then you'd get to a fight that somehow managed to be extremely short but also way too over-described at the same time.
The same things seemed to keep happening over and over. They'd go and fight the bad guy on his ship and then lose and go back to where they were originally. And then they'd go and fight the bad guy on his ship and lose and then go back to the same place. And then they'd go and fight the bad guy and lose, etc, etc.
Speaking of the bad guys, Titan was so irritating and not even in a fun bad guy way. He was hammy and had boring motivations and was clearly just a way for the author to impose views they have but didn't want to attribute to the good guys into the story. Why in the hell are the good guys agreeing with the big bad about the motive behind his plans? Why do they just leave the bad guy be at the end of the book and frequently talk to him as if he's a debate partner rather than someone trying to take over the known universe? It's such a strange way to go about setting him up. I found Solis was actually pretty interesting, but he got literally no development and did practically nothing for the entire duration of the novel, so there was no chance for him to be cemented as maybe a good character.
So, onto the sexism! There were eight named female characters in the novel. Five of these characters' main attribute was 'wife' or 'mother'. Three of them were killed off to further male character development. One of them had the pleasure of only being in two pages of one chapter, for the sake of the main characters to call hot and then steal from. One of the three that were fridged was the only non-white woman in the entire book. She also had no lines at all, despite appearing three or four times. She, along with one of the female main characters, were both brainwashed and had someone else's will forced upon them for the majority of the novel. The only female character that was centre stage in the group of heroes was not at all centre stage and the author seemed to forget she even existed at certain points. On more than one occasion, I read words very similar to 'the boys followed their mentor' and then suddenly the female character would speak, with absolutely no indication she'd joined the group.
The racism part comes under the previously mentioned mentor. Having a centuries-old Asian man serve as a teacher to a group of white people is a racist trope in and of itself, but the author described him at one point using the offensive term 'oriental' and then claimed he used to be a Samurai, but then apparently refused to actually name Japan as the country he came from. He, and his wife who was killed off for his male angst, were the only two characters of colour, aside from two men who were both described as African-American and had no other distinguishing factors at all, in their two sentences of inclusion.
There was also a section towards the end of the novel, in which Titan says he wants to be blue-eyed and blond-haired to come across as perfect to the world, which is straight-up literally a Nazi thing for the author to write. And yeah, even if you make the argument that 'it's what the world has a beauty standard' you'd be wrong, because the beauty standard is hugely different in different countries and communities and there are far more people who don't think blue-eyed and blond-haired than do.
Following on from this, Titan also claims he is Jesus Christ, 'Mohammed', Allah, Yahweh, Krishna and Buddha. No god there, though, despite Allah and Yahweh being literally just the translated word for god in the respective religions. Mohammed spelt exactly like that, despite it being Muhammed the prophet, and the idea of both Muhammed and Buddha being intangible figures, despite having both been actual literal human beings who are documented to have lived and interacted with the world around them, even if they were also spiritual leaders. Quite frankly, it was a mess, and while I'm not sure whether it'd be classed as racism, it's certainly religious insensitivity and roundabout prejudice.
A final word, please don't buy or read this book. If it were just a case of a clunky, poorly-written novel, I wouldn't say half so much about it, and I'd love to encourage the writer to continue. As it is, it needs some serious editing work and my advice to the author is to research before you write, rather than just shove in whatever the hell you feel like would suit the fantasy that you want to live. Women are more than just props for romance and for men to feel sad about, and other religions and people of other races do actually exist and should actually be treated with some kind of respect.
Read
February 8, 2020DNF ......
Just know the pacing was so off.
Check out this review if you want my full opinion, it sums up my feels.
{ ~ https://goodreads.com/review/show/283... ~ }
Just know the pacing was so off.
Check out this review if you want my full opinion, it sums up my feels.
{ ~ https://goodreads.com/review/show/283... ~ }
March 31, 2019
2019 is the year of discoveries for me. By accident, or guided by the starlight, I wouldn’t know, I came upon two teenage writers and authors who are still not out of their classrooms but are already “competing” with thousands of more experienced writers on equal footing on Amazon and other book-selling platforms.
In February this year, Michael Evans disarmed me and won my sympathies with his dystopian Control Freakz. A month later, John-Clement Gallo did it with his Sci-Fi adventure novel The Shadowverse.
“This parallel universe, what I call the Shadowverse, is a mere shadow of this one, where energies of all kinds reign. It is connected to this one by a series of wormholes—the creators of which I do not yet know. Sometimes the portals open where they should not.”
If this “definition” of the Shadowverse, in the words of the villain Titan, is not enough for you to grab and time-travel through this book, then I hope the group of six of our superheroes with their incredible powers gathered under the name the Shadowforce will be. Just out of their teenage years, they are warriors of the universe on a mission to save our home planet from the alien force which wants to take it over.
Still being a teenager, Gallo delivers us natural, funny and witty dialogues between his young protagonists and development of a clumsy romantic relationship I enjoyed very much. His personal expertise in martial arts (he is ranked a black belt in taekwondo and hapkido) gives his fighting scenes an extra-realistic touch and excitement.
But it is his love for astronomy, astrophysics and distant worlds that breathes life into this story. John-Clement is a teenager who dreams of stars. His enchantment by a star-spangled night sky and the modern culture of superheroes saving us in various blockbusters and comics is the real juice that sets his imagination in motion by creating a fast paced and action-packed story of tall, likeable and ordinary-young-people-turned-superheroes with an important mission.
If we had doubts about the future of Sci-Fi or dystopian genres, we can be at peace now. Both Gallo and Evans want to save humanity, they both have talent to entertain us and capture our attention, and their determination to write and publish the series of books is nothing but commendable ambition at such a young age.
What more is there to say?
BJ
www.bernardjan.com
Bernard Jan
In February this year, Michael Evans disarmed me and won my sympathies with his dystopian Control Freakz. A month later, John-Clement Gallo did it with his Sci-Fi adventure novel The Shadowverse.
“This parallel universe, what I call the Shadowverse, is a mere shadow of this one, where energies of all kinds reign. It is connected to this one by a series of wormholes—the creators of which I do not yet know. Sometimes the portals open where they should not.”
If this “definition” of the Shadowverse, in the words of the villain Titan, is not enough for you to grab and time-travel through this book, then I hope the group of six of our superheroes with their incredible powers gathered under the name the Shadowforce will be. Just out of their teenage years, they are warriors of the universe on a mission to save our home planet from the alien force which wants to take it over.
Still being a teenager, Gallo delivers us natural, funny and witty dialogues between his young protagonists and development of a clumsy romantic relationship I enjoyed very much. His personal expertise in martial arts (he is ranked a black belt in taekwondo and hapkido) gives his fighting scenes an extra-realistic touch and excitement.
But it is his love for astronomy, astrophysics and distant worlds that breathes life into this story. John-Clement is a teenager who dreams of stars. His enchantment by a star-spangled night sky and the modern culture of superheroes saving us in various blockbusters and comics is the real juice that sets his imagination in motion by creating a fast paced and action-packed story of tall, likeable and ordinary-young-people-turned-superheroes with an important mission.
If we had doubts about the future of Sci-Fi or dystopian genres, we can be at peace now. Both Gallo and Evans want to save humanity, they both have talent to entertain us and capture our attention, and their determination to write and publish the series of books is nothing but commendable ambition at such a young age.
What more is there to say?
BJ
www.bernardjan.com
Bernard Jan
September 15, 2019
This is a new edition of the book with a revamped first 7 chapters, new cover, and new author name! Enjoy!
EDIT 9/15/2019: I spent the last week sweeping through and doing my own version of copyediting, proofreading and adding descriptions while taking out totally unnecessary, repetitive dialogue, etc. Although I'm deep into the sequel, I enjoy making the first better and better, and I'm getting there!
EDIT 9/15/2019: I spent the last week sweeping through and doing my own version of copyediting, proofreading and adding descriptions while taking out totally unnecessary, repetitive dialogue, etc. Although I'm deep into the sequel, I enjoy making the first better and better, and I'm getting there!
August 9, 2019
Thank you SO much to the author for sending me a copy of his book in exchange for an honest review
I'm still processing everything that happened in this book, and I honestly think that it's much better than I expected, it has surprised me for good, which is always very pleasant. The Shadowverse is a book about a group of guys who get superpowers and must fight a fearsome villain in order to save the world. It's the typical Superheroes story but it has an interesting twist where we'll meet other worlds, which is great. I had a lot of fun with the book, the sci-fi is not usually my kind of genre, so this may have prevented me from enjoying certain aspects, but on the other hand, I really enjoyed the characters and I adore the superheroes theme.
3.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 💫
You can find more of my review on my blog A Book. A Thought.
I think the plot is very well thought out, from the beginning I felt super committed to it, and although there's a lot of information being thrown at the reader from the moment one, this didn't prevent me from enjoying and feeling interested in, I also think they're very solid first pages. I also like how everything is planned to surprise, the plot twists are really good and have taken me by surprise. I adore that the author isn't afraid and just go for it and include from funny scenes to the saddest and most tragic ones, that makes me personally feel more hooked and feel that the plot is thought carefully and in detail, and not only put there just because. I usually enjoy character-driven books, but I think this book shows how a good plot should be handle.
The Shadowverse is a parallel world to ours, so there are parallel worlds and temporary travel going on, all these things seem very interesting to me, although I think they could have been better used and more explored.
Other aspects that I enjoyed a lot were the characters, I think that although I wasn't SO interested in some of them, I can see that they're realistic, their personalities and actions make sense to me, although sometimes I don't share, I think they act very naturally and everything happens organically, including the relationships between them. Having a main character with whom you can feel connection is very important to me and this time that was what happened.
Although I highlight the construction of the characters I must also say that it has many unnecessary chapters, by this I mean that each chapter has a character as the most prominent or protagonist, and I think that less would have worked better, maybe something more general. I understand that the author wants to give them the importance they deserve and highlight each character, though, but can become dense, especially when there are so many of them.
The writing style was quite good, I like the fact that there are many dialogues in the book since I'm a big fan of them, also this makes you move faster inside the book. Believe me, despite having more than 500 pages doesn't feel long or heavy at all, and I give all the credit to the writer for that, it's a great job.
Although I enjoyed several aspects of the book and I would definitely recommend it, I don't think it's for those people, who like me, don't usually read or enjoy sci-fi because it's very heavy in this aspect, I mean, I enjoy it anyway, but it's something that I wanted to mention because at times I felt kind of lost and even disinterested due to this. But if you like the genre, GO FOR IT, you'll surely love it.
There's a lot of action in the book from the first moment, and although some of those scenes are really good, others are confusing, especially the fight scenes, of which I've never been a big fan of anyway.
There's a lot of potential in this story, it's very good in itself, but I felt that there's a lot of chapters that don't contribute much to the main plot, so we could reduce the length of the book quite a bit. Anyway, it is VERY good, I had a lot of fun with the characters and their goals. Despite having many aspects of fantasy is a book that touches a lot of human things and real aspects of daily life, which I find very interesting. I think you could enjoy it if you like sci-fi and superhero stories, it has a very entertaining plot and it's a book with a lot of potential. I also understand that the author is very young, so the fact that he has built a whole world and writes high sci-fi it's incredible. In short, I enjoyed it and read it faster than I thought it would, which always makes me happy. Give it a try and support the author, if you like the genre, you'll not regret it.
I'm still processing everything that happened in this book, and I honestly think that it's much better than I expected, it has surprised me for good, which is always very pleasant. The Shadowverse is a book about a group of guys who get superpowers and must fight a fearsome villain in order to save the world. It's the typical Superheroes story but it has an interesting twist where we'll meet other worlds, which is great. I had a lot of fun with the book, the sci-fi is not usually my kind of genre, so this may have prevented me from enjoying certain aspects, but on the other hand, I really enjoyed the characters and I adore the superheroes theme.
3.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 💫
You can find more of my review on my blog A Book. A Thought.
I think the plot is very well thought out, from the beginning I felt super committed to it, and although there's a lot of information being thrown at the reader from the moment one, this didn't prevent me from enjoying and feeling interested in, I also think they're very solid first pages. I also like how everything is planned to surprise, the plot twists are really good and have taken me by surprise. I adore that the author isn't afraid and just go for it and include from funny scenes to the saddest and most tragic ones, that makes me personally feel more hooked and feel that the plot is thought carefully and in detail, and not only put there just because. I usually enjoy character-driven books, but I think this book shows how a good plot should be handle.
The Shadowverse is a parallel world to ours, so there are parallel worlds and temporary travel going on, all these things seem very interesting to me, although I think they could have been better used and more explored.
Other aspects that I enjoyed a lot were the characters, I think that although I wasn't SO interested in some of them, I can see that they're realistic, their personalities and actions make sense to me, although sometimes I don't share, I think they act very naturally and everything happens organically, including the relationships between them. Having a main character with whom you can feel connection is very important to me and this time that was what happened.
Although I highlight the construction of the characters I must also say that it has many unnecessary chapters, by this I mean that each chapter has a character as the most prominent or protagonist, and I think that less would have worked better, maybe something more general. I understand that the author wants to give them the importance they deserve and highlight each character, though, but can become dense, especially when there are so many of them.
The writing style was quite good, I like the fact that there are many dialogues in the book since I'm a big fan of them, also this makes you move faster inside the book. Believe me, despite having more than 500 pages doesn't feel long or heavy at all, and I give all the credit to the writer for that, it's a great job.
Although I enjoyed several aspects of the book and I would definitely recommend it, I don't think it's for those people, who like me, don't usually read or enjoy sci-fi because it's very heavy in this aspect, I mean, I enjoy it anyway, but it's something that I wanted to mention because at times I felt kind of lost and even disinterested due to this. But if you like the genre, GO FOR IT, you'll surely love it.
There's a lot of action in the book from the first moment, and although some of those scenes are really good, others are confusing, especially the fight scenes, of which I've never been a big fan of anyway.
There's a lot of potential in this story, it's very good in itself, but I felt that there's a lot of chapters that don't contribute much to the main plot, so we could reduce the length of the book quite a bit. Anyway, it is VERY good, I had a lot of fun with the characters and their goals. Despite having many aspects of fantasy is a book that touches a lot of human things and real aspects of daily life, which I find very interesting. I think you could enjoy it if you like sci-fi and superhero stories, it has a very entertaining plot and it's a book with a lot of potential. I also understand that the author is very young, so the fact that he has built a whole world and writes high sci-fi it's incredible. In short, I enjoyed it and read it faster than I thought it would, which always makes me happy. Give it a try and support the author, if you like the genre, you'll not regret it.
March 22, 2019
When author John-Clement Gallo emailed me and asked me to review The Shadowverse, he mentioned that he'd found me by reading my review of Control Freakz by Michael Evans and offered a free .mobi file in exchange for an honest review. I was excited to dive into this alternate reality superhero fiction, as it's one of the first books of its kind that I've been able to review, but there were several issues that I feel need to be addressed in order for my review to be accurate.
To see my full review of the novel complete with a list of pros and cons, visit my book review blog, Bitty Book Nook: https://bittybooknook.blogspot.com/20...
If I had to conclude this review in a sentence, it would be that The Shadowverse has a lot of work to do, but it certainly has a lot of potential as well. I do still think that any fan of superhero fiction should give it a shot! Mr. Gallo, thank you for the opportunity to review your work. I look forward to seeing more from you in the future!
To see my full review of the novel complete with a list of pros and cons, visit my book review blog, Bitty Book Nook: https://bittybooknook.blogspot.com/20...
If I had to conclude this review in a sentence, it would be that The Shadowverse has a lot of work to do, but it certainly has a lot of potential as well. I do still think that any fan of superhero fiction should give it a shot! Mr. Gallo, thank you for the opportunity to review your work. I look forward to seeing more from you in the future!
January 21, 2021
The Shadowverse by J.C. Gallo is a sci-fi superhero story that is fresh, exciting and loaded with twist and turns, making for great reading.
The story revolves around friends whom after being given powers must join together in a struggle against an intergalactic threat. The story pulls you in right away with well written dialog and a strong premise that moves the it along quickly and quite smoothly.
The world building in this story is phenomenal and so large it reminds me much of Dune by Hubbard. The author does a marvelous job of creating a valid world that descriptively comes alive with sights, smells and sounds. From the start of the story to the last page the world building is an excellent backdrop for the story.
The characters are well defined, well rounded and diverse. The have depth, a sense of humor and are quite human. I found them relatable and familiar, which is not easy to do in a "sci-fi, superhero" novel. Their development is weaved into the story beautifully as the author peals back the layers their layers revealing more and more of them as the story progresses. Even the villains are well done creating an excellent antithesis for the young heroes.
This novel is fun, a great adventure, action packed and very hard to put down. As a long (very long) time fan of comics/graphic novels/moves revolving around the superhero theme, "The Shadowverse" is far an excellent entry into the sub-genre and I think it sets a new standard.
The story revolves around friends whom after being given powers must join together in a struggle against an intergalactic threat. The story pulls you in right away with well written dialog and a strong premise that moves the it along quickly and quite smoothly.
The world building in this story is phenomenal and so large it reminds me much of Dune by Hubbard. The author does a marvelous job of creating a valid world that descriptively comes alive with sights, smells and sounds. From the start of the story to the last page the world building is an excellent backdrop for the story.
The characters are well defined, well rounded and diverse. The have depth, a sense of humor and are quite human. I found them relatable and familiar, which is not easy to do in a "sci-fi, superhero" novel. Their development is weaved into the story beautifully as the author peals back the layers their layers revealing more and more of them as the story progresses. Even the villains are well done creating an excellent antithesis for the young heroes.
This novel is fun, a great adventure, action packed and very hard to put down. As a long (very long) time fan of comics/graphic novels/moves revolving around the superhero theme, "The Shadowverse" is far an excellent entry into the sub-genre and I think it sets a new standard.
March 3, 2019
The Shadowverse is a richly imagined world where a band of friends must join forces in order to save the world! This book definitely reminded me of The Guardians of the Galaxy meets Team Titan.
I typically don’t get into the superhero theme, but this book was a lot of fun to read. It was witty, action packed, and full of adventure with twists and turns.
One of the coolest aspects of this book is that the author is only 17, so he is able to offer a unique perspective into his characters that gives them even more depth.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It does take some time to digest all of the information necessary to navigate through the universe, but once I got through that, this book was too good to put down.
Thank you to the author for providing a copy of this book for me to review. It did not bias my review in any way, and all opinions are my own.
Rating: 4 stars
I typically don’t get into the superhero theme, but this book was a lot of fun to read. It was witty, action packed, and full of adventure with twists and turns.
One of the coolest aspects of this book is that the author is only 17, so he is able to offer a unique perspective into his characters that gives them even more depth.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It does take some time to digest all of the information necessary to navigate through the universe, but once I got through that, this book was too good to put down.
Thank you to the author for providing a copy of this book for me to review. It did not bias my review in any way, and all opinions are my own.
Rating: 4 stars
Want to read
May 2, 2019DNF . . . . maybe I'll try another time?? This one isn't for me.
September 13, 2019
The Shadowverse by John-Clement Gallo
3.5 / 5 avocadosRead full reviews and more here!
Hiya bookish people!
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I really enjoyed this novel! I was a bit worried as I am far more of a Fae or Fantasy girl, rather than superhero and sci-fi adventures; however, my worries were for naught. I was never bored whilst reading, and was immediately sucked into the world that Gallo created. I felt immersed, and can I just say how happy I am to see a bit of an astronomy representation! I really love the subject, but it isn’t one I have the opportunity to learn at my school.
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Character-wise, I was extremely impressed. Although Gallo’s lack of experience shows through some cracks that can be remedied with age and more experience, I felt that I was able to instantly connect with most of the characters. I loved the development that I read of the relationship between Johnny, Sam, Ryan and Dustin! The fun of following them was un-matched! As for Rose and Jane, I wish I had just seen… a little bit more. The dynamic felt rushed and I couldn’t really connect to them as well since they hit it off, with so little issues, so quickly.
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Gallo is an extremely skilled author, and if you’re observant, you can see a couple of really hidden gems throughout the book, such as the subtle jab at social injustice (which I love seeing since in a lot of sci-fi novels, society is either straight up divided, or the government is corrupt - mostly). The only thing I would ask for? More inner turmoil. Although the characters were well developed, I did think the initial chapters were slightly rushed, but this was quickly remedied!
- Emma :)
3.5 / 5 avocadosRead full reviews and more here!
Hiya bookish people!
.
I really enjoyed this novel! I was a bit worried as I am far more of a Fae or Fantasy girl, rather than superhero and sci-fi adventures; however, my worries were for naught. I was never bored whilst reading, and was immediately sucked into the world that Gallo created. I felt immersed, and can I just say how happy I am to see a bit of an astronomy representation! I really love the subject, but it isn’t one I have the opportunity to learn at my school.
.
Character-wise, I was extremely impressed. Although Gallo’s lack of experience shows through some cracks that can be remedied with age and more experience, I felt that I was able to instantly connect with most of the characters. I loved the development that I read of the relationship between Johnny, Sam, Ryan and Dustin! The fun of following them was un-matched! As for Rose and Jane, I wish I had just seen… a little bit more. The dynamic felt rushed and I couldn’t really connect to them as well since they hit it off, with so little issues, so quickly.
.
Gallo is an extremely skilled author, and if you’re observant, you can see a couple of really hidden gems throughout the book, such as the subtle jab at social injustice (which I love seeing since in a lot of sci-fi novels, society is either straight up divided, or the government is corrupt - mostly). The only thing I would ask for? More inner turmoil. Although the characters were well developed, I did think the initial chapters were slightly rushed, but this was quickly remedied!
- Emma :)
May 1, 2019
I don't read science fiction much, so this one was good for a change but not exactly good as an experience. The thing is, the story has potential but isn’t used to its fullest.
The beginning was so good, so mysterious and about bunch of friends having fun, acquiring their powers, meeting new ones like them and all. But then the flow of the story gets so fast that you don't get to enjoy every aspect of it. For me personally though I liked the usual banter among the friends, I don't know why but I didn't feel connected to any one of them. After a point I felt like skipping, but then I wanted to complete it too.
I think the book needs a good editing and not so many perspectives. It's good to know a story from the hero's side and the villain side. It's not always fun to read every character in the story having a chapter to them.
I seriously wanted to like this story, since I know so much efforts have been put into it, the author is new with great skills, but the story really needs some good editing to make it more likable.
Still I want to thank the author for approaching me to review it. I seriously appreciate it.
The beginning was so good, so mysterious and about bunch of friends having fun, acquiring their powers, meeting new ones like them and all. But then the flow of the story gets so fast that you don't get to enjoy every aspect of it. For me personally though I liked the usual banter among the friends, I don't know why but I didn't feel connected to any one of them. After a point I felt like skipping, but then I wanted to complete it too.
I think the book needs a good editing and not so many perspectives. It's good to know a story from the hero's side and the villain side. It's not always fun to read every character in the story having a chapter to them.
I seriously wanted to like this story, since I know so much efforts have been put into it, the author is new with great skills, but the story really needs some good editing to make it more likable.
Still I want to thank the author for approaching me to review it. I seriously appreciate it.
July 1, 2019
This book is a pretty awesome feat for a first-time author.
The story is filled with action and has a group well thought out characters. My favourite was the two brothers who worked off each other's powers. (Read the story to find out more)
As one person said, it had a comic book feel. I on the other hand love comics, and seeing that the story was about super heros, I appreciated the feel!
The only thing that I would change is the dialogue in some parts. It was a bit forces. Don't get me wrong, it’s not a big deal and still worth read!
Well done Mr. Gallo!
The story is filled with action and has a group well thought out characters. My favourite was the two brothers who worked off each other's powers. (Read the story to find out more)
As one person said, it had a comic book feel. I on the other hand love comics, and seeing that the story was about super heros, I appreciated the feel!
The only thing that I would change is the dialogue in some parts. It was a bit forces. Don't get me wrong, it’s not a big deal and still worth read!
Well done Mr. Gallo!
August 3, 2020
I loved reading this book, and can't wait for the next chapter. This was put together so well... I love the characters. The plot kept me interested. I am absolutely on pins and needles waiting for the next one... awesome job.
April 12, 2019
What a fun, interesting read! When the author approached me on twitter and asked me to read and review the book, I was definitely interested but also a little worried that it might not be my "style" since I go for more romance-esque books. Well let me tell you, I was absolutely wrong! This book has it all- adventure, realness, a great plot, tragedy, and even a little romance there thrown in there for me!
The characters were carefully and thoughtfully planned out to where you definitely were able to relate to them and were able to like the like-able characters but even be able to understand the concepts behind the "unlike-able" characters.
This book made me think and really understand the "why" people do what they do and even put myself in their shoes- both our heroes and the villains. I really liked how it had me do this.
In regards to the story line, wowzers there is a LOT going on! I did get a little confused at times because there are a lot of a characters and a lot of places and again, just a lot going on. I can see WHY it was that way, but it did get a little overwhelming.
All in all, this was a great fantasy superhero read and I believe the author is only going to get better and better in the next books coming out.
4 outta 5 stars from me!
The characters were carefully and thoughtfully planned out to where you definitely were able to relate to them and were able to like the like-able characters but even be able to understand the concepts behind the "unlike-able" characters.
This book made me think and really understand the "why" people do what they do and even put myself in their shoes- both our heroes and the villains. I really liked how it had me do this.
In regards to the story line, wowzers there is a LOT going on! I did get a little confused at times because there are a lot of a characters and a lot of places and again, just a lot going on. I can see WHY it was that way, but it did get a little overwhelming.
All in all, this was a great fantasy superhero read and I believe the author is only going to get better and better in the next books coming out.
4 outta 5 stars from me!
April 11, 2019
I thought this book was amazing. Very well written. Has very relatable characters and brilliant plot that really came together
Johnny Sparks longs for a greater purpose. After an encounter with a mysterious stranger, he and his friends are imbued with incredible powers—at last giving his life meaning.
But this dream soon disintegrates once one of the friends is taken by an alien warlord named Titan. In a rescue effort, the remaining group is sent across the galaxy in search of the only possible aid—an ancient, immortal warrior missing for centuries.
To succeed, the team must join forces to reclaim their friend and stop a sinister scheme devised against humanity by Titan and his empire. The conflict for the soul of reality is set in motion, but even if the group prevails, they risk losing what it means to be human.
Johnny Sparks longs for a greater purpose. After an encounter with a mysterious stranger, he and his friends are imbued with incredible powers—at last giving his life meaning.
But this dream soon disintegrates once one of the friends is taken by an alien warlord named Titan. In a rescue effort, the remaining group is sent across the galaxy in search of the only possible aid—an ancient, immortal warrior missing for centuries.
To succeed, the team must join forces to reclaim their friend and stop a sinister scheme devised against humanity by Titan and his empire. The conflict for the soul of reality is set in motion, but even if the group prevails, they risk losing what it means to be human.
January 10, 2019
The Shadowverse by John-Clement Gallo is a captivating science-fiction story that incorporates elements of real life and fantasy.
In a surprising encounter, four male college friends acquire superpowers from a stranger. They later realize that Rose, who is an addition to the group, is an alien who is been sought after. A second lady, Jane, joins the party after they realize she also has unusual powers. The group is tricked by an evil force and they find themselves outside of the world they are used to and on a new planet and universe that is far ahead of the earth. Titan, the evil force, captures Rose and is focused on bringing justice and ending free will in all the planets that he controls. The five friends have to seek help from Sonovan Lung, an immortal hero living in exile, in order to stand a chance of defeating the villain, bring back Rose and stop Titan from invading Earth.
I liked that the author incorporates both real and imaginative features to add realism to the book. The story starts like any ordinary one. Four friends are attending college together. They enjoy each other's company sometimes making fun of each other. They all have issues they are dealing with but the friendship creates a place to forget their past. One day they bump into a stranger and they start manifesting incredible abilities. This ordinary start made the book more enjoyable for me as it contains elements of surprise unlike if the beginning had gone straight to the fantasy bit of the book.
I also liked the characters. The five friends and the supporting characters fit into their roles superbly. They are relatable and their reactions to the new world are phenomenal. The villain is intimidating and even though the friends have acquired superpowers, their unity and strength will be tested many times. The supporting characters are captivating and they support the main themes of the plot satisfactorily.
The dialogues exchanged between the characters gave me an opportunity to understand the story and the scenes better. The features of the other planets are well-detailed. I also liked the inclusion of time-travel which added a captivating flavor to the story. I would have appreciated much more action. I felt that some points of the plot were slow.
Still, I think The Shadowverse has amazing features that have the ability to captivate and it is also edited well. Readers who are fans of science-fiction stories with some elements of time-travel will find the book fascinating. Readers who prefer fast-paced stories and are not lovers of science-fiction books may not enjoy this book. I rate it 4 out of 4 stars.
In a surprising encounter, four male college friends acquire superpowers from a stranger. They later realize that Rose, who is an addition to the group, is an alien who is been sought after. A second lady, Jane, joins the party after they realize she also has unusual powers. The group is tricked by an evil force and they find themselves outside of the world they are used to and on a new planet and universe that is far ahead of the earth. Titan, the evil force, captures Rose and is focused on bringing justice and ending free will in all the planets that he controls. The five friends have to seek help from Sonovan Lung, an immortal hero living in exile, in order to stand a chance of defeating the villain, bring back Rose and stop Titan from invading Earth.
I liked that the author incorporates both real and imaginative features to add realism to the book. The story starts like any ordinary one. Four friends are attending college together. They enjoy each other's company sometimes making fun of each other. They all have issues they are dealing with but the friendship creates a place to forget their past. One day they bump into a stranger and they start manifesting incredible abilities. This ordinary start made the book more enjoyable for me as it contains elements of surprise unlike if the beginning had gone straight to the fantasy bit of the book.
I also liked the characters. The five friends and the supporting characters fit into their roles superbly. They are relatable and their reactions to the new world are phenomenal. The villain is intimidating and even though the friends have acquired superpowers, their unity and strength will be tested many times. The supporting characters are captivating and they support the main themes of the plot satisfactorily.
The dialogues exchanged between the characters gave me an opportunity to understand the story and the scenes better. The features of the other planets are well-detailed. I also liked the inclusion of time-travel which added a captivating flavor to the story. I would have appreciated much more action. I felt that some points of the plot were slow.
Still, I think The Shadowverse has amazing features that have the ability to captivate and it is also edited well. Readers who are fans of science-fiction stories with some elements of time-travel will find the book fascinating. Readers who prefer fast-paced stories and are not lovers of science-fiction books may not enjoy this book. I rate it 4 out of 4 stars.
February 25, 2019
Superheroes. Since the 1940’s every Tom, Dick, Harry, and Jane has been writing about superheroes. Some were kids, most were adults, but they all had super something in their beings. The teen superheroes caught a vague interest in me because I grew up not having any. In fact, I have seen cartoons but never paid attention. I was into action-adventure books. Comics/comiccon/ and such things never interested me and still don’t. Worse yet, when you read a few pages into this book, you find out that the teens are twenty-two years old, and the size of ogres. For those that have been abused by Disney, ogres since the dawn of man have been bullies, warriors or slaves that are over six-foot tall. If you look at the world today, you will not find many world leaders that do not fit the above description, so sad!
Now come on, that is not the normal teen by any sense of the word. Yet these guys are. Moving on the first alert for me was a girl, honestly with red hair. When the five main characters were over six foot tall, I immediately thought I was reading about a basketball team. To me, these were the bad parts of the book. What is it with red hair in books and movies lately? Just doesn’t seem right to me.
Yet there were a bunch of good parts, excellent parts and a saga that takes you across the galaxy, even I can get into that. What about the antagonist, one that doesn’t lie, always tells the truth… whoa wait, is that possible? And the “good” guys want to stop this sweet person that is trying to save the universe, and mankind from its hateful, selfish self? No way, let him do his thing and save all of us!
Of course, that would not be a very good ending if we were all perfect now, would it? What seems to be at stake here is free will. Free will to kill, rape, torture and starve those you want to get rid of, versus peace and harmony. Am I rooting for the wrong person? Well, of course, I want the “good guys” to win, but at what cost?
This is a book you need to read if you are a superhero fan or not, I give this book four stars out of five, mostly because of the comic book headings and archaic wording, neither of which hurt the storyline.
Now come on, that is not the normal teen by any sense of the word. Yet these guys are. Moving on the first alert for me was a girl, honestly with red hair. When the five main characters were over six foot tall, I immediately thought I was reading about a basketball team. To me, these were the bad parts of the book. What is it with red hair in books and movies lately? Just doesn’t seem right to me.
Yet there were a bunch of good parts, excellent parts and a saga that takes you across the galaxy, even I can get into that. What about the antagonist, one that doesn’t lie, always tells the truth… whoa wait, is that possible? And the “good” guys want to stop this sweet person that is trying to save the universe, and mankind from its hateful, selfish self? No way, let him do his thing and save all of us!
Of course, that would not be a very good ending if we were all perfect now, would it? What seems to be at stake here is free will. Free will to kill, rape, torture and starve those you want to get rid of, versus peace and harmony. Am I rooting for the wrong person? Well, of course, I want the “good guys” to win, but at what cost?
This is a book you need to read if you are a superhero fan or not, I give this book four stars out of five, mostly because of the comic book headings and archaic wording, neither of which hurt the storyline.
February 4, 2019
The Shadowverse: A YA Sci-Fi Superhero Adventure by John-Clement Gallo is an adventure that is as satisfying as any can be. Well-written and loaded with action, it features Johnny Sparks, a young protagonist who suddenly discovers that he has powers after an encounter with a mysterious stranger. Perhaps this could be the start of an exciting life for him. When one of his gifted friends is captured by the evil warlord Titan, Johnny and his friends are sent on a rescue mission that takes them across the galaxy. They will need the help of a legendary warrior who has gone missing for centuries. But Titan has grimmer plans for the fate of humanity.
John-Clement Gallo pits his characters against impossible odds with explosive action. The narrative starts with a prologue that captures a moment five hundred years ago and presents a character that will intrigue readers. Then the action moves quickly to New York City in an offset room in an alley where two men are talking about events about to take place. The author grabs the reader’s attention right off the bat by creating a setting that is filled with mystery and putting questions in the reader's mind.
I immediately became curious about the characters and the impending events. The setting is interplanetary, and I enjoyed the powerful images conjured up in the writing, and loved the author's gift for apt descriptions and insightful writing. The novel is fast paced, with plot elements that enhance the unpredictability of events. The characters are real and it is interesting to follow them as they develop through the challenges. The Shadowverse: A YA Sci-Fi Superhero Adventure is written in a cinematic style, filled with ingenuity in plot and imagination. It feels so real and it’s easy to ride alongside the extraordinary characters.
John-Clement Gallo pits his characters against impossible odds with explosive action. The narrative starts with a prologue that captures a moment five hundred years ago and presents a character that will intrigue readers. Then the action moves quickly to New York City in an offset room in an alley where two men are talking about events about to take place. The author grabs the reader’s attention right off the bat by creating a setting that is filled with mystery and putting questions in the reader's mind.
I immediately became curious about the characters and the impending events. The setting is interplanetary, and I enjoyed the powerful images conjured up in the writing, and loved the author's gift for apt descriptions and insightful writing. The novel is fast paced, with plot elements that enhance the unpredictability of events. The characters are real and it is interesting to follow them as they develop through the challenges. The Shadowverse: A YA Sci-Fi Superhero Adventure is written in a cinematic style, filled with ingenuity in plot and imagination. It feels so real and it’s easy to ride alongside the extraordinary characters.
February 4, 2019
The Shadowverse is a superhero adventure written for young adults, and penned by author John-Clement Gallo. Combining science fiction, suspense and comic book action, the plot begins when Johnny Sparks and his three fellow college friends are imbued with superpowers from an encounter with a mysterious stranger. Soon after, they discover that fellow college attendee Rose is actually an alien, sought after by powerful forces from across the galaxy. As tensions rise and danger looms, the new heroes are called out of this world to find the only person who can help them, but even this immortal warrior has issues that must be resolved. What follows is an even bigger battle for the soul of the universe itself.
I enjoyed the progression of the plot very much, from the small-time discovery of Johnny’s powers right up to the whole universe-at-stake blockbuster ending, and I think the pacing is really good for a young adult novel. This was a long read with plenty of concepts to enjoy, and author John-Clement Gallo takes time to really craft the heroes and villains of the piece to give a fully rounded set of people (and aliens) who feel like so much more than comic book heroes by the time the tale ends. The prose is complex, so I’d certainly recommend it as a read for ages fifteen to nineteen in the young adult genre, but I’d also say that plenty of adult readers and fans of science fiction are certain to enjoy The Shadowverse as well.The Shadowverse: A YA Sci-Fi Superhero Thriller
I enjoyed the progression of the plot very much, from the small-time discovery of Johnny’s powers right up to the whole universe-at-stake blockbuster ending, and I think the pacing is really good for a young adult novel. This was a long read with plenty of concepts to enjoy, and author John-Clement Gallo takes time to really craft the heroes and villains of the piece to give a fully rounded set of people (and aliens) who feel like so much more than comic book heroes by the time the tale ends. The prose is complex, so I’d certainly recommend it as a read for ages fifteen to nineteen in the young adult genre, but I’d also say that plenty of adult readers and fans of science fiction are certain to enjoy The Shadowverse as well.The Shadowverse: A YA Sci-Fi Superhero Thriller
February 16, 2019
I need to start off by saying, I love the imagination used to create the different worlds we get to visit. I’m almost finding myself wanting to book a cruiser to Herook.
While this book does need a bit more editing and tightening up, it still presented an exciting story.
I love the unique personalities of each team member. We are quickly introduced to them all at the beginning of the book. Over time, we get to know them on a more intimate level. We learn their backstories - what makes them tick. It’s always interesting to see how people with similar tragedies develop different traits. Some internalize that anger, using it to drive them to self-destruct. Some immediately implode. While others convert the anger to something positive.
The loved watching the interactions between the characters. I thoroughly enjoyed the verbal sparring between the boys. I probably chuckled more than I should have. Poor Ryan. Poor Johnny. It’s a good thing being clueless about girls doesn’t affect a hero’s ability to save the universe.
There are a few “who exactly are you?” characters sprinkled throughout the book. Some hints were dropped. I think I know who the mysterious “Z” is, but I need to read the next book for more clues.
While this book does need a bit more editing and tightening up, it still presented an exciting story.
I love the unique personalities of each team member. We are quickly introduced to them all at the beginning of the book. Over time, we get to know them on a more intimate level. We learn their backstories - what makes them tick. It’s always interesting to see how people with similar tragedies develop different traits. Some internalize that anger, using it to drive them to self-destruct. Some immediately implode. While others convert the anger to something positive.
The loved watching the interactions between the characters. I thoroughly enjoyed the verbal sparring between the boys. I probably chuckled more than I should have. Poor Ryan. Poor Johnny. It’s a good thing being clueless about girls doesn’t affect a hero’s ability to save the universe.
There are a few “who exactly are you?” characters sprinkled throughout the book. Some hints were dropped. I think I know who the mysterious “Z” is, but I need to read the next book for more clues.
February 19, 2019
Six ordinary young people have their lives changed forever when they discover that they're not so ordinary after all. Soon they're a band of superheroes, traveling through space and trying to save the world.
"The Shadowverse" has a lot of superhero tropes that superhero fans are likely to recognize and enjoy. So if you like a good superhero story, this book has a lot that will probably appeal to you. Some of the aspects of the the book that really stood out for me were the martial arts training and fighting scenes, which were portrayed with lots of realistic detail, and the meditation scenes, which helped provide a balance to the numerous fight scenes. The dialogue between the main characters also had the authentic ring of high school/college age speech, and gives some pleasant moments of levity.
I can see this book really appealing to adolescent readers in particular, with its young protagonists and high-action sequences interspersed with some light romance and a little philosophy. Recommended for teenage fans of superhero fiction.
My thanks to the author for providing a review copy. All opinions are my own.
"The Shadowverse" has a lot of superhero tropes that superhero fans are likely to recognize and enjoy. So if you like a good superhero story, this book has a lot that will probably appeal to you. Some of the aspects of the the book that really stood out for me were the martial arts training and fighting scenes, which were portrayed with lots of realistic detail, and the meditation scenes, which helped provide a balance to the numerous fight scenes. The dialogue between the main characters also had the authentic ring of high school/college age speech, and gives some pleasant moments of levity.
I can see this book really appealing to adolescent readers in particular, with its young protagonists and high-action sequences interspersed with some light romance and a little philosophy. Recommended for teenage fans of superhero fiction.
My thanks to the author for providing a review copy. All opinions are my own.
January 12, 2019
Sometimes people are chosen to become heroes; just like in The Shadowverse. John-Clement Gallo creates a novel around a team of young adults destined for greater things. These friends entertain us as they learn about their powers and the different ways to use them. Johnny, Ryan, Sam, Dustin, Rose, and Jane have a lot to learn and everything is a learning experience.
The Shadowverse, by John-Clement Gallo, is comical for a time travel novel. With a familiar plot altered in a unique way, this book is fresh and amusing. The author being a teenager himself, you will find the characters have a personal feel about their personalities. Overall, I loved the book, but my favorite characters are Sam and Dustin. These brothers are goofy, yet fun. They work well together for siblings and are so vain they make me laugh. I would highly recommend this for time travel and science fiction fans.
The Shadowverse, by John-Clement Gallo, is comical for a time travel novel. With a familiar plot altered in a unique way, this book is fresh and amusing. The author being a teenager himself, you will find the characters have a personal feel about their personalities. Overall, I loved the book, but my favorite characters are Sam and Dustin. These brothers are goofy, yet fun. They work well together for siblings and are so vain they make me laugh. I would highly recommend this for time travel and science fiction fans.
May 9, 2024
The Shadowverse is a story about a group of friends with superpowers who must join forces and learn to work together not only to save their friend but their world. The friendship described in the book between Sam, Dustin, Ryan and Johnny was so special, they complemented each other perfectly and that was my favorite part.
The reason why this wasn't a 5 stars for me is because everything in the first chapters from them being friends with the girls, to getting their powers and figure out how they worked felt rushed for me but after those chapters, I fell in love with the story and characters. I loved the author writing style and the book had a lot of action from beginning to end which I loved because I never got bored while reading it.
I definitely recommend this books to anyone looking for a superhero story, packed with action and some really great characters!
The reason why this wasn't a 5 stars for me is because everything in the first chapters from them being friends with the girls, to getting their powers and figure out how they worked felt rushed for me but after those chapters, I fell in love with the story and characters. I loved the author writing style and the book had a lot of action from beginning to end which I loved because I never got bored while reading it.
I definitely recommend this books to anyone looking for a superhero story, packed with action and some really great characters!
July 9, 2019
"Johnny Sparks longs for a greater purpose. After an encounter with a mysterious stranger, he and his friends are imbued with incredible powers—at last giving his life meaning.
But this dream soon disintegrates once one of the friends is taken by an alien warlord named Titan. In a rescue effort, the remaining group is sent across the galaxy in search of the only possible aid—an ancient, immortal warrior missing for centuries.
To succeed, the team must join forces to reclaim their friend and stop a sinister scheme devised against humanity by Titan and his empire. The conflict for the soul of reality is set in motion, but even if the group prevails, they risk losing what it means to be human."
I was provided this book by the author in exchange for an honest review. I laugh a little now when I think back to when I agreed to review this book for the author. He went out of his way to make sure that I was in fact a fan of this genre. Who could blame him? My reviews don’t exactly reflect everything I like to read, but I assured him that yes...I was in fact weaned on sci-fi. Hence, my next reading adventure was born.
The “Shadowverse” is a parallel universe to the one that we know; it is a faint mirror or “shadow” of the one that we live in and it is connected to our universe through wormholes. Unfortunately, the portals to the Shadowverse tend to be a bit temperamental, often opening in the least convenient places and times. This is just one of the things our new superheroes have to contend with.
Speaking of superheroes, some people are born to be book geeks, like myself...others are born, or perhaps more precisely chosen to become oh so much more than they ever thought they would be. This is the case with Rose, Sam, Johnny, Dustin and Ryan; six friends who are chosen to become superheroes with unimaginable powers. Who soon learn that they must somehow defeat alien forces that are determined to take over the planet. Oh, and as if that’s not enough for this young group of new superheroes they also have to rescue their friend Rose who has been kidnapped and somehow track down a warrior who has gone missing as well. Gee, maybe in their down-time they can take up macramé, they don’t see to have enough to do.
So, now that you know the basic premise of the story without me spoiling anything; I’d like to take some time to talk about some of the things I really enjoyed while reading. The first being, the dialogue....it’s fun!
There are very few sci-fi novels I can think of that interject humor into dialogue effectively. Here however, Mr. Gallo does so successfully. It’s my guess though that he does this, because he can really relate to his characters. I suspect they may speak in a similar manner to their creator, and I think that’s great! The humor that is interjected within the exchanges between these friends really helped me connect to the characters as people. Can you imagine what it must be like to try to learn and master new super powers...in front of your friends? That’s a situation just rife with comical possibilities and Gallo certainly takes advantage of that.
So, who are my favorite characters? I’d have to say probably the brothers, Dustin and Sam. These two egomaniacs are definitely full of themselves but not in an off-putting way; they don’t take themselves too seriously. I often found myself laughing at them honestly, they were so.....relatable. But then I found all of the character relatable, these two just stick out as my favorites.
As for the pace of this story, I enjoyed that as well. It’s fast paced and the author jumps right into it from the beginning. There’s no time wasted.
Now, having said that I am also going to point out that there is a LOT of information thrown at the reader in a very short time, and at times this did cause me to disconnect from the story. I attribute this disconnect to a lack of backstory. Sometimes authors forget just how integral back story can be to a reader; it has the power to move the reader from feeling as though they are nothing more than a fly on the wall watching the action....to feeling as though they are participating in the action. This is something I would like to have seen more of in this story. So, room for improvement here.
Still, this book is a great debut effort from this young author. I found it enjoyable, fast-paced, and just unique enough to not be lumped into all of the other sci-fi books I’ve read, it stood out. It does have a Christian undertone to it, so if you pick that up as well...it’s not by mistake. I didn’t find this over-done though. I didn’t feel walloped over the head with it; there is merely a subtle presence that I think makes sense within this story.
This story belongs in one other genre as well, YA (Young Adult). Due to the young ages of the main characters I really feel this author is missing out by not marketing his book to a wider audience. There are puh-lenty of sparkly vampires, witches, werewolves etcetera in the YA market....but not enough good sci-fi books.
So “da-da-da-daaaaaaa”... that’s so much better with trumpets, “sigh”.
Would I recommend this book? Absolutely!
If you are a fan of sci-fi (I’m throwing that statement in for the author), I highly recommend you check this one out. I’m giving it 4 out of 5 stars. I have no doubt that this writer will only get better and better with time and can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.
If you would like to see more of my reviews visit me at my blog.... Green Eyed Irish Lass's Book Reviews & More
January 9, 2019
Unity has extreme power!
A sci-fi story blending fantasy, reality and super-powers with friendship, fun, unity and strength to make it a captivating read. A group of college mates join together, to save their group friend from evil using their superpowers on a different planet and saved the earth and human life. They ride together the roller-coaster of challenges and risks with their friendship and complementing each other powers.
A sci-fi story blending fantasy, reality and super-powers with friendship, fun, unity and strength to make it a captivating read. A group of college mates join together, to save their group friend from evil using their superpowers on a different planet and saved the earth and human life. They ride together the roller-coaster of challenges and risks with their friendship and complementing each other powers.
December 21, 2020
This young writer has skillfully taken a group of friends, and me, through the SHADOWVERSE on a wonderful adventure. The characters, both heroes and villains, are brought to life with well developed dialogue and narrative, and the scenery setting is extensive whilst still allowing the imagination to work. This book is definitely worth your time. I am thoroughly looking forward to the next installment.
October 8, 2019
Fun teen superheroes. Kind of power rangers.#voraciousreadersonly
January 13, 2021
STORY
The Shadowverse is a intriguing debut by JC GAllo, with likable characters and a new concept that sci-fi readers are sure to love.
I love a good superhero novel. I read a few comic books, nothing major. And I've watched almost every Marvel (pre-Endgame) movie there was. So I was pretty excited for this book. It read more like a comic, though, and the pacing was a bit jarring. Overall, the story itself was a bit muddled, I think. There were many time skips, time jumps, flashbacks, etc, and I could've done without them.
The story itself is, as a said, intriguing, and the concept was different than most sci-fi novels or superhero movies out there. The storyline of chosen young adults having to train and fight a Titan is pretty cool! I enjoyed this aspect.
I understand there was a lot going on, but the pacing and the constant battles all felt a bit... feigned and dragged on a bit. However, these are my personal opinions and they don't change my final rating. The story itself was fairly solid and if you enjoy sci-fi, you should give this a shot!
THEMES
This novel had themes about loyalty, brotherhood, heroism, and more, overall, they were great themes and well-executed.
One thing bothered me, however, that leans toward a thematic/spiritual element.
CHARACTERS
Gallo has a knack for writing action (fellow martial artist, here! yay!) and I enjoyed seeing the characters work together to fight evil. While the characters had good, strong motives, their dialogue was often stilted and dragged, for me. A few times, the characters made decisions that didn't exactly fit, and acted as solely plot devices, I feel, and Titan also was occasionally very Disney-esque for my personal liking, but that's just me.
The characters were still solid characters with realistic arcs! If you enjoy banter and action mixed, try this one!
OVERALL
I look forward to the second installment. Gallo shows promise for a kickass series and I thought this book was fun. 3 stars, rounded to 4!
The Shadowverse is a intriguing debut by JC GAllo, with likable characters and a new concept that sci-fi readers are sure to love.
I love a good superhero novel. I read a few comic books, nothing major. And I've watched almost every Marvel (pre-Endgame) movie there was. So I was pretty excited for this book. It read more like a comic, though, and the pacing was a bit jarring. Overall, the story itself was a bit muddled, I think. There were many time skips, time jumps, flashbacks, etc, and I could've done without them.
The story itself is, as a said, intriguing, and the concept was different than most sci-fi novels or superhero movies out there. The storyline of chosen young adults having to train and fight a Titan is pretty cool! I enjoyed this aspect.
I understand there was a lot going on, but the pacing and the constant battles all felt a bit... feigned and dragged on a bit. However, these are my personal opinions and they don't change my final rating. The story itself was fairly solid and if you enjoy sci-fi, you should give this a shot!
THEMES
This novel had themes about loyalty, brotherhood, heroism, and more, overall, they were great themes and well-executed.
One thing bothered me, however, that leans toward a thematic/spiritual element.
CHARACTERS
Gallo has a knack for writing action (fellow martial artist, here! yay!) and I enjoyed seeing the characters work together to fight evil. While the characters had good, strong motives, their dialogue was often stilted and dragged, for me. A few times, the characters made decisions that didn't exactly fit, and acted as solely plot devices, I feel, and Titan also was occasionally very Disney-esque for my personal liking, but that's just me.
The characters were still solid characters with realistic arcs! If you enjoy banter and action mixed, try this one!
OVERALL
I look forward to the second installment. Gallo shows promise for a kickass series and I thought this book was fun. 3 stars, rounded to 4!
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