Shadowmagicby John Lenahan

Conor thought he was an average teenager. Okay, so his father only had one hand, spoke to him in ancient languages, and was a bit on the eccentric side, but, other than that, life was fairly normal. Until, that is, two Celtic warriors on horseback and wearing full armor appear at his front door and try to kill him. Don't you hate when that happens? Join Conor as he grapples with typical teenage problems, like how to deal with a father's high expectations, how to survive in the world on your own, and how to woo a beautiful girl who wants you dead. (goodreads.com)

I bought this book from the Book Depository (UK) when I pre-ordered some books for January. It came in the mail last week* and I was too lazy to write up an In My Mailbox post for it (I ran out of time, to be honest). Somewhere, however, in my lack of time since I got the book I managed to read it completely. It was a nice read in the bath and before I fell asleep.Now, I have to be honest, when I started reading the book I was not impressed with the writing. It felt like it was forced humour and not the best writing I have ever read. I was scared that I wasn't going to like this book at all. But a little before half-way through the book I noticed it was flowing better and the dialogue wasn't as forced.I laughed at parts and I was very curious to find out what was going to happen at the end. Even with the rough start the semi-mystery and adventure throughout the book was enough to hook me and keep me going. I am now glad I did because by the end of the book I was rather sad that it was over. I don't know if there will be another book or if this is it, but the ending has a couple of nice openings for a sequel. Nothing that feels too unresolved, but there are a couple of things that could have some more resolution if there were to be another book.* Last week as in 2 weeks ago now, I was rather slow in getting the review written up. It's been sitting in my drafts since last Sunday. ;)