Review: The Shadow Society by Marie Rutkoski

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Pages: 416

Received: Received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley

Release Date: October 16, 2012
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Goodreads Synopsis:

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.

My Review:

This book started out very similar to a lot of other teen books out there... a normal girl (Darcy) who's not the most popular at school meets this gorgeous dark haired guy (with a motorcycle, Conn) and gets a weird feeling about him, and that's when Darcy realizes that she is something special. I have to say it took me awhile to read this book, I just wasn't interested in the beginning, it seemed like something I had read before. But then something happened and it was like a switch was flipped and I was really interested in the book (I'd probably say it happened around the time the alternate world was introduced... I love books with alternate worlds).

Darcy was an interesting character, she was found on the steps of a fire house at 5 years old and has been in and out of foster homes since then. She doesn't remember anything about her past, except for these brief flashes she has every so often. Darcy is determined to learn about her past, even more so when she finds out about this alternate world and what her place in it really is. What really stood out in this book was the friendships that Darcy has made where she is. These three friends are amazing secondary characters, and are always there for Darcy, it's like when she can't speak for herself they are there for her.

I was definitely intrigued by this alternate world, history is different because the Great Chicago Fire never happened there. I think Rutkoski did a great job explaining the history and how this tear between the alternate worlds happened, which is definitely important in a book like this.

The romance in this story is what got on my nerves a little, it seemed a little over the top at times to me personally. There was somewhat of a love triangle going on in the beginning, but I will say that one cleared up pretty quickly. I actually enjoyed that Darcy stuck up for herself when one of the guys started to become pushy towards her. But there still seemed to be something that developed a bit too quickly (though at least they spent a lot of time together before anything happened).

I really loved the ending, everything came together in such a great way, and one of the greatest things is that Darcy learns something about herself... as much as she was trying to find out about her family in the book, she finally realizes that family is what you make it out to be.

This is one book that if you stick it out it is enjoyable and takes readers on a fun ride. Despite the beginning seeming cliché, I enjoyed how Rutkoski surprised me with the alternate world and the history.