Enshadowed

by Kelly Creagh

[cornerfolds]

I read a ton of reviews for Enshadowed before deciding to continue with the series. Although I really loved Nevermore, people compared Isobel in Enshadowed to Bella in New Moon, which was a huge red flag. (Not to mention, who are those people on the cover?? That is NOT Varen and Isobel from the cover of Nevermore...) Ultimately though, I wanted to know what happened to Varen. I had to see him and Isobel reunited and I am so glad I decided to read this after all!

Enshadowed picks up a couple months after Nevermore with Isobel trying to make the best of her life without Varen. Although a good portion of the book was actually about Isobel trying to cover up her devastation over losing Varen, it didn't come off as mopey or annoying. I actually continued to find Isobel to be a strong character throughout this book. I was also worried about not having much Varen in the second book in this series, but I don't think it necessarily suffered for it. The little glimpses of Varen were honestly a little terrifying, but were just enough to keep me invested in his story. I also found myself enjoying Pinfeathers more and more as the book went on, surprisingly.

The story and world building in this second book were just as amazing as the first! The part of this book that actually broke my heart was when Isobel ran away. I felt so much for her parents, having grown enough to understand how painful those kinds of decisions can be, despite how good of an idea it might seem at the time, but I digress. I loved that the Poe Toaster was such a big element of the story, especially since he is someone you can actually research online. I love when books blend fantasy and non-fiction together! The dream world was explained in even more detail here and continued to be perfectly creepy!

Enshadowed had every opportunity to become an awful middle book suffering from what we like to call "middle book syndrome," but instead it held its own amazingly. And that ending was just incredible!! I finished Enshadowed and immediately had to pick up Oblivion to find out what happened next and (hopefully) get some more Varen in my life!

Actual rating: 4.5 stars