Guest Review: The Shadowing (Hunted) by Adam Slater

Title: The Shadowing: Hunted
Author: Adam Slater
Publisher: Egmont
Publication Date: 2 May 2011







Synopsis; From Amazon
The girl lies by the canal, her face turned upwards like a stargazer. But she will never see the stars again. Her eyes have been torn out. The rain fills the empty sockets until they brim over, spilling bloody tears down her cold, white cheeks. Once every century, the boundary between the demon Netherworld and the human world weakens. Legions of creatures gather, preparing to cross over, to bring death and destruction. This time is called The Shadowing. Callum has always known that there is something beyond the mortal world - he can see ghosts. Lately, he's started to have horrific visions of children murdered by some terrible, unseen creature. And then the visions start to come true - and Callum realises he is being hunted too. But Callum must stay alive. He is bound by a dark destiny, and must stand against the demon forces that threaten our world forever. For it is nearly time. The Shadowing is coming...

This book was obviously far too scary for a wimp like me to review, luckily one of my Year 12 Librarians came to the rescue. I hope you enjoy his review [ : D ] I was so pleased I bought him a giant lollipop lol.

Book Review: The Shadowing


Set in third person narrative, The Shadowing is a rather mixed bag of hair-raising suspense, gloriously icky gore and slight disappointments. So let’s start with the positives. One particular shining moment of this book is it’s manipulation of one of my own personal fears, when, in the pitch black of night you’ll invariably look out the window and see something staring back in. In this case, something does indeed stare back, and what a creepy thing it is. “The Hunter” as it’s known seems to take a particular fancy towards eyeballs, which had my own eyes twitching just to check they were still there.

The shock of the prologue certainly made an impact, opening on the final moments before the hunter makes a grisly kill. Although we do have short interludes from the hunter’s perspective I found these to be generally superfluous and did little to add much more than a bit more stomach-turning gory detail. Most importantly, it’s hunting Callum.

Character-wise I felt that Callum, our Haley-Joel Osment hero was surprisingly uptight about his abilities throughout the first half book, which I suppose might be understandable, but I would’ve like to have seen someone with a bit more initiative in understanding his supernatural powers. Melissa, his new found friend however is considerably more enjoyable. I found her dress-sense to be fun (seriously, everyone should dress up in Victorian/Steampunk at least once) and despite being initially described as a rumour-hungry girl obsessed with the occult she quickly grows to be a sensible accomplice to Callum, helping him unearth information with which to fight back against the Hunter. The final character in the main trio is Callum’s Gran. Little is divulged of her past other than her history with her grandson and her relationship with the supernatural. However, in the novel’s final leg is the perhaps the character that most intrigued me. Jacob clearly has history with Gran as well as a huge neon sign over his head that says “Knows more than he’s letting on” in every one of his appearances.

By the end of the book I had collected several tantalising plot threads which are bound to be expanded on later in the series. How will Callum fare in the shadowing? What is the significance of the ghosts and what is the nature of magic? (And, perhaps most important of all, how many 90p scarves does Melissa own?) So my overall impression? This is an enjoyable read with characters that I feel need more back story to truly engage with, however, I have high hopes that they will develop more in the next book. (Which, judging by the taster chapter has an even more unsettling foe.)

The folklore is well written and has a rich feeling that really immerses you into the world of the supernatural. For best scares, read in bed. By the time you turn the light off you’ll be wondering what exactly is in that dark corner of the room, and if like me, you’ll be reaching for some rowan berries rather than the light switch.

Happy reading!

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- Scamp, peruser of the tomes. (Don't you just love his pseudonym)