Shadow Spell
Shadow Spellby Caro King
Simeon Dark is the most powerful sorcerer in the land of the Drift. Mysterious, cunning, a shape-shifter, only he can stop the evil Strood and save the Drift from dying. But where is he? Nin finds her way to Dark's mansion - a strange castle with a garden and lake spilling into the sky. There she finds a ribbon of shadowy light: could this be the unsaid spell and the clue to unlocking the mystery of Simeon Dark? Meanwhile, Strood is preparing his distillation machine, his pet tigers and some barrels of blood and is coming after her... (goodreads.com)
I enjoyed Seven Sorcerers so much I was sort of disappointed when it ended. Luckily I had the foresight to buy this here second book at the same time because it picks up right where the first book leaves off and you feel like you're reading one big ol' book rather than two individual ones. I was already all caught up in the world of the Drift so it was nice to not have to come back to real life right away.I found Shadow Spell to be slightly more action packed than the first book and I liked it that way. Time is running out for Nin to find the last remaining sorcerer and get away from Mr. Strood's many methods of trying to kill her. Strood really does run the gamut of attempted murder scenarios here. That man takes obsession to a whole new level. Seriously. And you know what? He makes me laugh. He's creepy and evil and insane but I ended up finding him humourous as well. He doesn't come off as an incompetent buffoon type of bad guy, he's quite ruthless and scary, but his constant obsession with trying to kill Nin and get her out of his way amused me.Jik and Skerridge remain my favourite characters but the entire cast is fantastic. You feel for each character that ends up in a somewhat perilous situation and you root for their safety and survival as much as you do Nin and Jonas. I loved that about this series. It's rare that you feel connected with all the characters in a book.I'm trying to think of what else I wanted to say about Shadow Spell because I felt just so enchanted by the time I finished it yesterday, but for the life of me the words are gone. I had a lot of fun following the clues in the book while Nin tried to figure out where Simeon Dark was and the small glimpses into the past during the time of the Seven Sorcerers were fun too. I would get stupidly excited when another flashback type scene was about to unfold, whether as a story or as a dream. I wish I could read about the Sorcerers themselves. Maybe Caro King will write a prequel to these two books about the the time when the Sorcerers lived and figured out the plague was killing off all the magic.This post might be short and not very well put together, but please believe me when I say I fell in love with the characters and world from the Drift and I can be certain that these two books will be reread in the future when I want to go back!I don't think this series has a title.... but here they are in order. ;)