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The Shadow Society
Unavailable
The Shadow Society
Unavailable
The Shadow Society
Ebook366 pages5 hours

The Shadow Society

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

4.5/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this ebook

Darcy Jones doesn't remember anything before the day she was abandoned as a child outside a Chicago firehouse. She has never really belonged anywhere—but she couldn't have guessed that she comes from an alternate world where the Great Chicago Fire didn't happen and deadly creatures called Shades terrorize the human population.

Memories begin to haunt Darcy when a new boy arrives at her high school, and he makes her feel both desire and desired in a way she hadn't thought possible. But Conn's interest in her is confusing. It doesn't line up with the way he first looked at her.

As if she were his enemy.

When Conn betrays Darcy, she realizes that she can't rely on anything—not herself, not the laws of nature, and certainly not him. Darcy decides to infiltrate the Shadow Society and uncover the Shades' latest terrorist plot. What she finds out will change her world forever . . .

In this smart, compulsively readable novel, master storyteller Marie Rutkoski has crafted an utterly original world, characters you won't soon forget, and a tale full of intrigue and suspense.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateOct 16, 2012
ISBN9780374367572
Unavailable
The Shadow Society
Author

Marie Rutkoski

MARIE RUTKOSKI is a professor of English literature at Brooklyn College, where she teaches Shakespeare, children's literature and creative writing. She lives in New York City with her husband and two sons. Marie can tie a good double figure-eight knot and is very fond of perfume, tea and excellent bread and butter.

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Reviews for The Shadow Society

Rating: 4.285714285714286 out of 5 stars
4.5/5

14 ratings12 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A great YA book for those who love sci-fi, supernatural, and mystery. The characters could be kids in my school. A outcasts prevail book that will capture the awkwardness in young readers. This one is going in my class library!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Very enjoyable. I was hesitant. I'm tired of dystopian novels and was worried this was just another one. It's not. The author does a very good job with the world building. Nice, light and engaging read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I enjoyed this book and found it hard to put down. When I finished it, I found myself wishing for more.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Has some good plot twists, has some original material and a good group of sidekick friends. The romance is... fine, but not all that believable. Darcy is pretty great and I particularly like that her superhero-like powers are not related to her main talents (art). I don't know that I'd give this the top honors for best new YA that it seems to be getting, but it was a perfectly solid YA paranormal romance.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Another book that I started a long time ago and just circled back to trying again. Obviously I liked what I read enough to get half way into the book. Yet, not enough to keep me reading and finishing the book. I picked it up again and just started from where I left off. I do like Darcy's ability as a Shade to turn invisible. Although she was not able to sustain it all the time as she was still learning how to use her ability. The story read for the younger reading audience. This is fine but I was wanting more. There are young adult novels that can translate for both the younger and older audience alike but I did not think this one achieved this goal. The last half of the story was fine. There was some action but most of it is unmemorable. An alright ending but nothing in this book that would make me want to continue reading this series.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I can't believe this book. I'm not going to lie, I kinda thought it wouldn't be so awesome, but as I worked my way (quickly) through the book, I realized how awesome it was to read. I got attached to Darcy and her Motley Crew of friends. It was like a patchwork quilt, they were all working together equally. I loved it. I want to read more about Darcy's life. I want to read another story that she goes in. She's fun, and somehow I see a little bit of me in her. I'd like to at least read another short story. It's a fun book to read, kind of like a roller coaster, but less bumpy. It's interesting, it's a good read. That's usually how it works, right?Thanks for reading. Check out this book! It's awesome. (':You know what to do. :P radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I can't believe this book. I'm not going to lie, I kinda thought it wouldn't be so awesome, but as I worked my way (quickly) through the book, I realized how awesome it was to read. I got attached to Darcy and her Motley Crew of friends. It was like a patchwork quilt, they were all working together equally. I loved it. I want to read more about Darcy's life. I want to read another story that she goes in. She's fun, and somehow I see a little bit of me in her. I'd like to at least read another short story. It's a fun book to read, kind of like a roller coaster, but less bumpy. It's interesting, it's a good read. That's usually how it works, right?Thanks for reading. Check out this book! It's awesome. (':You know what to do. :P radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Short Review:
    Now this was a spectacular book. I loved every word of it. It got my attention from the very first page and didn't let go until the last one. Very impressive. Realistic, complicated characters who seemed to jump out of the page and into my world. I loved the romance, the action, the history. It's definitely on my to re-read list.

    Longish version:
    This one book held a very good story, which took me to an alternative plane to our own. One that was pre-the Great Chicago fire. Things were quite different in that world. Among us humans, there were Shadows, who presumably wanted to take over the world.

    There was, of course, a girl, who was too ordinary, a bit friendless, orphaned and abandoned before a firehouse in Chicago. And a cute guy, who's after her for things she can't even understand. He's from the past, she's from the present, but they meet and their lives will never be the same again.

    Conn has come into the present with a mission. He has to terminate Darcy. But for some reason, he can't. And she's falling for a guy she's never seen before. A guy who seriously seems to be stalking her.

    Then, when Darcy finally decides to put her attraction into action... wham! It turned out that she wasn't who she thought she was her entire life, and well... Conn wasn't who she thought he was either. A lot of distrust, spying, conspiring and reconciling later, perhaps they might get a chance at 'together'. Or not...

    I really loved Darcy's friend. And that's becoming a rare thing in books nowadays. But they were awesome and hilarious and I loved them. They were loyal and smart and had a bunch of tricks up their sleeves. Without them this story could've gone terribly wrong. Without them the world as we (or they) knew it, would've probably turned into a dark, dystopian place.

    In other words, I enjoyed the Shadow Society immensely. I'm just sorry I didn't review it earlier, but... you know. Things happen.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great storytelling! Abandoned outside a Chicago firehouse when she was five, Darcy has no memory of her life. What follows is a series of foster homes until she ends up with Marsha in LaKebrook a surburb, 30 minutes away form Chicago.Things were going well but as Darcy puts it in the first sentence of the book "Knowing what I know now, I'd say my foster mother had her reasons for throwing a kitchen knife at me.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was a great story! Darcy is not quite an ordinary foster child. She was found outside a Chicago Fire Hall when she was five. She had no memory of how she got there. In the next eleven years she bounced around to a number of foster homes. She has been at Marsha's for two years now which is something of a personal record.She is starting her junior year of high school and happy to be with her three friends - Lily, Jims, and Raphael. They have formed their own little group in the high school. But then Conn arrives. Conn is a senior, good looking, and interested in Darcy. They work together on a school project and get to know each other and like each other. Just as the project is concluding, Conn betrays her. He arrests her and takes her home to his Chicago which is an alternate world to the one where Darcy grew up. In his Chicago, there never was a Great Chicago Fire and there exist beings known as Shades who are domestic terrorists. Conn works for the Interdimensional Bureau of Investigation. He was sent to arrest her when she was spotted through one of the portals that link the two worlds. Now Darcy is stuck in a world she knows nothing about and learns that she is some sort of alien being who is supposed to be able to become a ghost. She is forced by the IBI to spy on the Shadow Society and in return she will be allowed to return to her Chicago. She does decide to make contact with the Shadow Society because she wants to find out about herself. She wants to know how she was abandoned in Chicago as a five-year-old. Darcy is a wonderful character. She is strong and resilient. She is also caring and curious. She has the unique ability to have an outsider's point of view as she sees both the Shadow Society and the IBI. She sees that there are factions in both groups who want to destroy each other. But she also sees factions who want to find some way to get along and to end the war between the two groups. In the Shadow Society, she is taught what she needs to know by a young man named Orion. At first he is a sympathetic character who seems to want what is best for Darcy. Darcy tries out a relationship with him because they have so much more in common than she and Conn. But through it all Conn is the one she loves. Together Darcy and Conn have to find a way for their two groups to work together to foil a terrorist plot being hatched by extremists in the Shadow Society.I recommend this book to science fiction fans and any readers who are looking for a good love story. I can't wait to share this one with my students.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    "The Shadow Society" was my first experience with reading a novel by Marie Rutkoski. I really ended up enjoying this novel and I hope there will be more stories in this world. The story is about a girl named Darcy who has no memory of her life before she was five years old. After being passed around several foster families she is now living with a single foster mom and they get along pretty well. She also has a great group of friends at school and she is pretty happy with everything except she wonders about her parents and how she came to be orphaned.Then a mysterious boy named Conn shows up at school. At first he is distant but then they are paired together and begin work on a special project at school. Things start to heat up between them and Darcy starts to have feelings for him. I will admit at this part of the story I figured it was turning into another generic YA Paranormal boy meets girl love story. I may have even rolled my eyes a little bit. Oh me of little faith! Conn does something to betray Darcy and then reveals another world dimension to her that runs parallel to hers. And Darcy may have originated from it.I don't want to give away any key plot points but I really enjoyed the book from here on. There are two different warring groups trying to destroy each other and Darcy ends up right in between them. She still has feelings for Conn but there is another boy who shows interest in her. Darcy struggles with unlocking the secrets of her first five years.The story features new and unique paranormal creatures and a romance that takes a back seat to the mystery and adventure in the novel. The story also features a nice and complete conclusion although there are enough interesting ideas left to easily lead the way for a sequel. And I really hope there will be. I loved the ending of the story and the characters really evolved into some that I would love to see more of.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    can't begin to tell you how much I love this book. I wish more books like this were published more often, Finally a new idea, something that is not overdone and not copied!!! THANK GOD!What I loved most about this book, if you have not guessed it by now, is the plot. This is a plot that is well done and beautifully written. It's heart-pounding, exciting, and just pure fun all together. In the story, Darcy is not who she thinks she is. She is something more and once that secret is out, Darcy is caught in the middle between the good guys and the bad guys. Or so we think... I admire how wonderful it was to keep both the reader and the main character out of the loop. This is the most exciting part. Going along with the character, taking out the pieces, and deciding for ourselves how we should we feel.The characters themselves are so redeemable it's amazing. I love a character who has been or was being steered the wrong way and BOOM! Changed for love. A love that is forbidden but so darn right. I LOVE it so much. And to see others start to see things clearly for the first time, it feels amazing, awestruck. The beauty of them going against everything they know, it's just so freaking cool!The Shadow Society is an dynamic story! Well told with a wonderful world building, you can't help but be sucked in the beauty of it. The engrossing details of action and love, it fiercely shoots adrenaline to the reader. The Shadow Society is awesome!