Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Shade - a review

Shade (Book #1)
Jeri Smith-Ready
320 pages


It's phasmophobia! Wait. Phasmophobia is the fear of ghosts. It's spectrophilia! Spectrophilia is the real life explanation for someone who is sexually aroused by ghosts.* The word is not found in Shade, but the topic is.

Shade is about a world where anyone born after a certain point in time (known as the shift) can see ghosts. There are various rules that govern these ghosts: ghosts can't see other ghosts, ghosts don't like the color red, ghosts hate obsidian so bathrooms are made of it. Make sense so far?

Aura (whose name can't be pronounced without awkwardly moving your jaw--try it) is upset over the death of her boyfriend Logan, who comes back as a ghost. Enter the mysterious Scottish guy Zachary. Love triangle alert! Aura can't decide between the two.

Here's where the face palming begins. Aura can't decide between an intangible ghost and a Scottish dude who may--or may not be--someone vastly important in the entire plot of the druid/ghost/shift/paranormal/governmental theme of the book. Heck, Aura's mother is missing, she doesn't know who her dad is, AND SHE'S THE FIRST PERSON BORN AFTER THE SHIFT HAPPENS. So yeah, she figures she's not important either. Even after several revelations she's walking around saying "I'm not really that important."

Shut up, Aura. You're an idiot.

Aura's spectrophilia is so strong that she's willing to do things with Logan as a ghost that she was never willing to do in real life. The face palming gets even better because ghosts can't lie! More face palming: tell your ghost boyfriend everything! EVEN MORE FACE PALMING: get into full coitus spectrophilia!** Seems like a great idea to me because no one is going to ask "HEY! ARE YOU TWO BANGING?"

Alright. I'm out.
There are several good things about Shade. There's a cleverness here that I haven't seen since Dead Like Me. That kooky show where grim reapers have day jobs and can talk to the dead. There's the idea that an entire government agency was started in response to a threat that's not really that threatening (because you know, that never happens). There's this whole mysterious world of druids and magic that has yet to be explored.

I certainly hope it gets explored. I can't handle love triangles most of the time, throw a ghost into the mix and it seems to make it worse for me. I'll read book two. If my druids and magic don't show up by then I'll pull a Seinfeld, throw my hands up, and shout "Alright. I'm out."

*I'm serious. This is really a thing.
**Coitus spectrophilia is a term I have created. I would rather use "ghost banging" but it didn't seem appropriate.
Posted by Adam at 8:36 AM
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29 comments:

  1. Curses on the people who cancelled Dead Like Me! I loved that show.

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    1. No kidding. David Fuller is brilliant but his shows always get canceled (Pushing Daisies). Did you watch the movie that tied everything up? They ended that one with a cliff hanger as well. That angered me.

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  2. I'm gonna go cliche and say this review hit the nail on the head. And choosing between the ghost of a guy who died because of a cocktail of drugs and 'liquid stupid,' and a LIVING guy who will do anything for you (plus he has a Scottish accent)? Yeah, no contest.

    Oh dear, I cannot WAIT until you read book 2. There's even more of EVERYTHING. The book is one permanent face palm. You can't even believe the shenanigans that Aura and her pals get up to next. Though in all seriousness, I really liked the series as a whole and if you can get through the next one, I think you should go for broke and read three too. The megaliths and druids will appear!

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    1. I love cliches!

      I mean, how could anyone even argue for her to be with Logan? Everyone is against him. She's the only one on his side, and then she changes her mind. What was the point to begin with?

      Oh no. Gosh. I might have to borrow that one from the library instead of getting it on my Kindle. At least I know the druids finally show up.

      Delete

    2. Agreed. My main problem with Logan wasn't that he was dead, though that presented its own set of challenges, it's that I never liked him. Thus, it was hard to show sympathy for the situation. That said, if the Shade world was the real world, I can see that it would be confusing and difficult if my boyfriend died, but I could still talk to him (and he could play on my emotions).

      Yeah, not sure Shift is a book you want to keep for always. You could always buy it later if you love it. I get almost all of my books from the library, because I don't want to clog my limited shelf space with ones I don't love or will never read again (and they're free!). Plus we have a great inter-library loan network, so if the book isn't at mine, I can order it from another. I like to think of the library as an extension of my bookshelf.

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    3. I don't know if you've read Lola and the Boy Next door, but Logan is the same as Max in that book, except worse. He's the drug doer and band guy. Also, I want to slap some YA authors because every guy that's in a band is portrayed as a drug user/alcohol abuser. Which is beyond absurd.

      I do the buy it later if I love it thing. The library here has made everything really easy on me. If it's not available at the library it'll be an ebook, if I can't get it there, I'll cave and buy it. But normally I try to go the free route first.

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    4. YES! I Loathed Max.

      I'm trying to think of a book that features a straight edge rocker, but coming up blank. Adam from If I Stay? But that theory is disproven in the second book... Oh I know, The Five Flavors of Dumb has some great atypical characters.

      There are a lot of things that annoy me about the way that guys (and girls) are regularly portrayed in YA.

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  3. I have always been mesmerized to distraction by the fact that the cover model on the SHADE series is the same model on the cover of DELIRIUM and PANDEMONIUM. Design-choice face palm.

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    1. I just noticed that! Sometimes getting the Kindle version spares me the trouble of dealing with the covers. I'm double face palming over here now.

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  4. "Ghost banging" not appropriate? When did you start to worry about that? Although mega-kudos for "coitus spectrophilius" -- I'm gonna work that casually into conversation soon.

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    1. I wanted to use "ghost banging" and "coitus spectrophilius" but couldn't make them both fit. So... footnote!

      I just realized "coitus spectrophilius" sounds like a Harry Potter spell.

      Delete

  5. *snort* This review is hilarious! I absolutely loved this series. Love triangles can be annoying but I didn't mind this one because it was unique. Logan's character in general annoyed me, however. The mythology that JSR explores is wicked cool - Irish and Scottish lore, Gaelic language, Astrology, the physical landscape and settings, etc. plus her own spin on ghosts and the afterlife. The final installment was my favorite.

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    1. Even though there's plenty of silliness here; it wasn't a bad read. I think she knows what her book is and isn't trying to be too serious with it.

      I do enjoy some good lore.

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  6. I am totally down for Druids. I read this one and actually liked it a lot, but frankly, I am much more interested in book 2 if it meets the Druid promise.

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    1. Same here. We need more books about druids.

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    2. Well I didn't say that the druids appear in book 2. Just that they show up in the series. Book three is much more lore focused. Book two features an awesome love pentagon. I'll leave you to guess who the players are. And I definitely kept reading because of the mythology.

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    3. Love Pentagon? I feel like that phrase should be used more. Mythology = love.

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    4. You figured me out. The more the merrier I say.

      Actually, I typically avoid love triangles at all cost.

      And I am a bit obsessed with megaliths, so the promise of Newgrange kept me coming back. I did a science fair project on Stone Henge in elementary school - though it wasn't very science-y so I'm not sure how I managed that.

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  7. You know what? I've never seen Seinfeld before.

    I have also not read this book. You know why? Because I'm just smart enough to have bought book two instead of book one. I don't know why. So I have Shift. And that's it. But the book cannot possibly be any better than this thing that you have written here. No way.

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    1. Shame on you for never watching Seinfeld!

      See, this is why books need numbers on them.

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  8. You will appreciate the lack of Coitus spectrophilia in book 2, but there is a new twist the emerges. I guarantee your review is SURE to bring it to the surface.

    You still need to read book 3. It is by far the most normal...well as normal as a book with ghosts can be. There is a lot more action and you get to travel to Ireland, Scotland, and Newgrange. Also...I want your take on something that happened in Ireland. We need a guy's perspective. I don't think guys think that way..EVER...but, I guess we will see.

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    1. Good. I'm going to see when I can get this one checked out, might be a while if the line for it is too long at the library.

      The most normal? Err. Yeah. I get what you're saying. Oh we will find out. Because I feel the need to flaunt my more than zesty opinion on this book already, wait until we get to the rest of the series!

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  11. Shade is a book that I not only highly recommend you buy, but insist that you do so; since I assure you that you will definitely not be disappointed in this one! Though, word of warning, you'll be dying to read the sequel as soon as you read the last word like I am now.

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  12. This book was filled with intrigue, all of the characters hiding secrets, and a surprising twist at the end. I can't wait for the next one!

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