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Shade's Children

by Garth Nix (Goodreads Author)

3.89 of 5 stars 3.89 · rating details · 5,799 ratings · 277 reviews

In the brutal world of Shade's Children, your 14th birthday is your last. Malevolent Overlords rule the earth, directing hideous, humanoid creatures to harvest the brains and muscles of teens for use in engineering foul beasts to fight senseless wars. Young Gold-Eye escapes this horrific fate, fleeing the dormitories before his Sad Birthday. He is rescued from certain doom...more

Hardcover, 352 pages

Published 2006 (first published 1997)

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Jul 03, 2007 Willow rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi-and-fantasy

Garth Nix is wonderful. He is one of the true great sci-fi and fantasy authors. Shade's Children was heartbreakingly sad and clever. This book is not a pick-me-up but I do think that it is original and interesting. However, fans of the Old Kingdom beware, this is very different from his other books.

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May 15, 2009 Espo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: just-books, youth

When I picked this up, I picked it up for the fact I was a fan of Garth Nix's Old Kingdom Trilogy, and was hoping to find more that he had written. And this really did ace it.

Shade's Children is set in a dystopia setting, perhaps more modern than not, as the technology of present day is still there in that setting, but no one knows how to use it. Fifteen years ago everyone over fourteen vanished, and eventually children were rounded up and taken to the Dorms. When you turn fourteen, you die. If...more

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Jan 27, 2009 Chris added it · review of another edition

Shade's Children
By Garth Nix
345pp. New York, New York
Harper Collins Publishers
ISBN 0 06 447196 9

The Overlords have taken over the world and the only people that can do anything about it are an organization of children lead by a part robot called Shade. Apparently, these robot overlords want to take kids on their fourteenth birthday and use them for spare parts on their robot cronies. The plot isn't all that exciting to be honest. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, not in this lifetime. I...more

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Nov 25, 2008 Wendy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a fantastic book!! Kind of made me think of a junior version of 'Battlestar Galactica', which is one of my favorite television shows.

The book takes place in a futuristic setting. One day all of the people over the age of 14 just disappear leaving behind nothing but children. Shortly after the adults disappear the children are rounded up and taken to dormitories where they are raised until their 14th birthday at which time they are taken away by creatures, to the Meat Factory. The Meat...more

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May 03, 2013 Erin Boyington rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: apocalyptic-post-apocalyptic-scifi, biopunk, horror, science-fiction, story, y-a

Unless you escape, by age fourteen the Overlords will come to harvest you for parts. If you manage to survive the well-organized hunters, you just may find refuge with Shade and help him destroy the Overlords. And if Shade doesn't send you on a suicide mission, you may make it to adulthood. Maybe.

Fifteen years ago every adult over the age of fourteen vanished in the Change. Soon the world was crawling with creatures who locked up the remaining children to be farmed for parts. On their Sad Birthd...more

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Mar 10, 2013 Jocelyn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, australian, young-adult

One day, a child woke up in his bed to discover that his parents were gone, Not only his parents, though – everyone’s. In fact, every person over the age of fourteen had disappeared. All the children left behind were soon rounded up into the Dorms where they lived until their Sad Birthday, the day when their brains and various other body parts would be ripped out and used to make one of the Overlord’s creatures. Another monster to die as part of the Overlords’ armies as each Overlord strives to...more One day, a child woke up in his bed to discover that his parents were gone, Not only his parents, though – everyone’s. In fact, every person over the age of fourteen had disappeared. All the children left behind were soon rounded up into the Dorms where they lived until their Sad Birthday, the day when their brains and various other body parts would be ripped out and used to make one of the Overlord’s creatures. Another monster to die as part of the Overlords’ armies as each Overlord strives to win that year’s tournament.

That’s just the way it is now. But a few – so few – children escape the dorms, and if they’re incredibly lucky they survive long enough to be found by Shade, the only person in the City who can offer any protection from the creatures. Shade isn’t human, not quite; he’s what remains of a human in Artificial Intelligence form, with a human personality – and Shade wants freedom from the Overlords just as desperately as the children do. But how many of the children under his protection is Shade willing to lose in pursuit of that freedom? And is he any better than the Overlords if he’s playing with the children’s lives in such a similar way?

Nix isn’t afraid of asking hard questions in his novels. His characters are real and multidimensional – none more so than Shade. He is the children’s saviour and protector, but is also someone in a position of great power, which means he’s able to ask his children to do very dangerous things. Although we don’t delve into their individual characters too much Shade’s children – Ella, Ninde, Drum and Gold-Eye – are distinct, and are shown to have reacted in different ways to the lives they’re dealing with. I found myself wondering if we’d get a resolution in this novel, because the action was down to the wire and I couldn’t see a way out for any of them! I’ll let you read it yourself to see if it all worked out.

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Nix’s work, and Shade’s Children was another example of why. Layered, vivid and satisfying; an excellent YA Fantasy novel.(less)

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Feb 18, 2013 Liz rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: australian-lit, science-fiction-fantasy, ya

Very mixed feelings about this one. It gets four stars because I thought the writing was excellent, and the scene-setting brilliant. I was instantly drawn into this dystopian world, in which everyone over the age of 14 has disappeared and children are basically farmed for their body parts, which go to provide soldiers for the "overlords" that have taken over the earth. Garth Nix's imagination seems so fertile, it makes me despair of ever being able to write anything decent in comparison.

The rest...more Very mixed feelings about this one. It gets four stars because I thought the writing was excellent, and the scene-setting brilliant. I was instantly drawn into this dystopian world, in which everyone over the age of 14 has disappeared and children are basically farmed for their body parts, which go to provide soldiers for the "overlords" that have taken over the earth. Garth Nix's imagination seems so fertile, it makes me despair of ever being able to write anything decent in comparison.

The rest of this review will be pretty spoilery, so at this point I'll say, give this book a try if you like well-written dystopias with teenage protagonists and don't mind the odd plot hole.

I liked the character of Shade, although (view spoiler). I liked that Nix doesn't shy away from some truly bleak moments as we find out the fates of various characters. Unlike some other reviewers I've seen, I really enjoyed the inter-chapter interpolations of the various reports, and I thought they successfully built up the tension in addition to what was going on with the main characters. The fact that the evil overlords are basically (view spoiler). But the ending was far too pat for my liking, particularly given the science fiction set-up.

Really, really spoilery bit: (view spoiler)

(less)

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Jan 30, 2013 Jake Heilizer rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is set in a time after the change. The change occurred on an ordinary day. All of a sudden everyone over the age of 14 disappeared. They were just gone. Pretty soon the overlords came and started rounding kids up into the dormitories. As soon as these kids turned 14, they are sent to the Meat Factory and their brains and muscles are harvested. They overlords put these into their creatures. They closely resemble regular creatures, but they are used in the overlords' battles. This is the...more

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Dec 23, 2012 Dorothea rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I liked this a lot when I was a YA myself, but while I still think some parts are well done, in general I don't find Shade's Children nearly as good as the Abhorsen trilogy.

One problem is the backstory -- there are some small holes and some very big ones. I mostly liked that Nix doesn't try to explain the situation very much, because it should only be a little less mysterious to the reader than it is to the protagonists; but then again, in science fiction there should at least be a pretense that...more

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Sep 01, 2012 Wizard rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If 3.7 was an option that is what I would choose. It was a good book, a very creative idea and format. I liked how the chapters were divided with other things that were still related to the story. I also very much so enjoyed the 'hit-the-ground-running' kind of start the book had. Then, the story didn't halt or reach a standstill at any point. It was just a grand, flowing and continuous masterpiece that didn't stop until the end of the book. When the comments on the back said you'd be up all nig...more

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Apr 17, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, post-apocalyptic

Sigh, just wrote a long summary and then lost it.

15 years ago all the adults on the planet (over 14) disappeared and in their absence a group of monsters arrived lead by 7 Overlords. The children were picked up and placed into dorms, where they live until they turn 14 (their sad birthday). At 14 they are taken to the Meat Factory, where parts of them will be used to build new monsters to serve an Overlord and battle for parts of the city.

Gold-eye managed to escape with the help of his brother, w...more

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Dec 11, 2011 Emily rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

[Possible spoilers]
Sometime in the near future a phenomenon has occurred instantaneously removing all adults from the world leaving the children at the mercy of a mysterious group they refer to as Overlords. Some children escape their fate as mere body parts bred to become soldiers in the battles these Overlords have against each other. Their "protector" is Shade, whose personality resides in a computer and sends these children out on missions to learn more about the Overlords and possibly how...more [Possible spoilers]
Sometime in the near future a phenomenon has occurred instantaneously removing all adults from the world leaving the children at the mercy of a mysterious group they refer to as Overlords. Some children escape their fate as mere body parts bred to become soldiers in the battles these Overlords have against each other. Their "protector" is Shade, whose personality resides in a computer and sends these children out on missions to learn more about the Overlords and possibly how to defeat them.
Now, what I've just given you is much more explanatory than the back of the book reveals, and this information is just dribbled out throughout the story. Chapters alternate between the action of the tale and logs and records kept in Shade's computer. At first these serve to set the scene and give more information about this odd world we've been dropped into. As we progress, though, and more is revealed about the nature of Shade as well as the Overlords, action actually begins to take place in the computer world. I found some of these chapters an enhancement to the story, but quite a few, particularly in the middle, seemed as though Nix couldn't think of anything else to reveal through this device. The children seem less like characters and more devices for moving the plot forward. Shade is the most developed and dynamic, but also the least comprehensible. This is a shorter book than I'm used to from Nix, so it's possible he sacrificed some characterization in favor of a lower page count. Except for the aforementioned archive chapters, the book is almost all suspenseful, dangerous, mission-y action. These kids are in danger almost constantly, and with as much is made of how many children failed to survive similar missions in the past, this seems rather unrealistic. Of course, you wouldn't have any characterization at all if your protagonists die in the first chapter, but the author might have compensated for that by not listing the loads of previous "lost" teams.
Overall, though, the book was entertaining to read, and the complete unbelievability of the whole thing can be overlooked, particularly by younger readers. I would recommend this more for true young adults who don't tend to be as critical as I am.(less)

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Jun 04, 2011 Jessica rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult-books

I'm a big fan of Garth Nix and have read practically all of his books. Which is why I was so surprised to find this one since I've never heard of it before. And after reading it, I realized there's a good reason for that: this book kind of stinks. As a book, it's all right, but as a Garth Nix book, it's terrible. It's his worst book by far. It's almost like he decided he wanted to do what all the other young adult authors were doing by putting in a bunch of swearing and sexual references, but it...more I'm a big fan of Garth Nix and have read practically all of his books. Which is why I was so surprised to find this one since I've never heard of it before. And after reading it, I realized there's a good reason for that: this book kind of stinks. As a book, it's all right, but as a Garth Nix book, it's terrible. It's his worst book by far. It's almost like he decided he wanted to do what all the other young adult authors were doing by putting in a bunch of swearing and sexual references, but it was very clumsily done and just made his writing sound amateur.

I did like the structure of the book, though. I thought it was a neat idea to have the computer transcriptions in between each chapter. I also liked the characters. They were interesting and unique, and the plot surrounding Shade is very interesting. The overall plot, though, not so much. It's really difficult to get into this book because the world is rather complex and confusing, and nothing is really explained very clearly for quite a while. You basically have to figure things out as you go. And nothing really important happens until the last few chapters of the book. So, for Garth Nix's one and only attempt at Science Fiction, I say it's a no go. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, let alone a young adult, for fear it would make them not want to read the goodness that is Garth Nix's other books. I really wonder what happened for him to write this weird fluke.

Warnings (on a scale of 1-5):

Sexual/Body: 5 Though there is only a moderate amount of sexual references, they are very explicit and detailed. Garth Nix doesn't hold back on his descriptions at all.

Language: 3 There isn't a whole lot of swearing, but when it is there, it's pretty intense.

Violence: 3 The characters fight/kill a lot and the description of their enemies' injuries and deaths is a little graphic and sometimes disturbing.

Death: 2 Again, the characters kill a lot, a lot of the off-screen characters die, and other characters die. Basically, there is a lot of death, but it's dealt with very lightly, unlike everything else in this book.(less)

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Jan 28, 2011 Kulsuma (sunshine and stardust) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shade’s Children had an interesting storyline and had great potential. I was gripped by the fact that the main character at the beginning of the book, Goldeye, was in a life-threatening position and about to be caught by mutants. I was interested in the children’s Change talents and wondered how they had developed these abilities. Also, I wanted to know why they only lived until the age of fourteen- which I found out the answer to later on in the book.

However, the lack of emotional development...more Shade’s Children had an interesting storyline and had great potential. I was gripped by the fact that the main character at the beginning of the book, Goldeye, was in a life-threatening position and about to be caught by mutants. I was interested in the children’s Change talents and wondered how they had developed these abilities. Also, I wanted to know why they only lived until the age of fourteen- which I found out the answer to later on in the book.

However, the lack of emotional development of the characters limited the depth the story could have reached. The lack of emotional development meant that I was not able to form emotional attachments to the characters and thus, I did not sympathise with them very deeply.

There were some unanswered questions in the novel such as whether the adults who disappeared at the time of the ‘Change’ ever reappeared when the Grand Projector was destroyed. It was very unrealistic how Shade’s children were still obtaining supplies from supermarkets and stores all over the city, fifteen years after ‘The Change’. Surely all of the food would have perished or been taken by everyone else?

Also, the Overlords (the foe) were 2D. They did not explain their reasons for taking over the world and endlessly fighting pointless ceremonial battles. Like in most dystopian novels, the question of what had happened to the rest of the world remained unanswered. Shade’s Children was limited to the city and the immediate area around it. This meant that the book was unclear in some major areas.

The Overlords felt like secondary characters and I wanted them to be more three dimensional. I believe Shade’s Children would have ranked more highly with me if a deeper emotional layer was added to the novel. There were seven Overlords and they were all easily forgettable.

Whilst reading Shade’s Children, I felt like I was reading about a computer game. The action was playing out in front of me, one thing constantly after another, but I was adamantly not allowed into the characters’ minds; their thoughts and feelings. This left me feeling like an outsider and also wondering when these characters slept.

The extracts from the computer archives that were liberally interspersed throughout the book became wearisome after the first ten or so. These ranged from easily understandable character interviews to complex tables of figures and statistics (which I could have done without).

Shade, as a character, felt as if he could have been developed more. I actually liked the fact that I wasn’t sure whose side he was on throughout the book as it kept me guessing. Shade’s internal conflict was aptly demonstrated.

There were moments in Shade’s Children where I did empathise with the characters, but they were few and far between. For example, I felt emotional at the end of the book due to Ella and Drum’s heroism and I felt sorry for Shade’s victims.

Overall, I feel that Shade’s Children was an average story and I persevered to the end, even though I felt like giving up much earlier. I know that this book would appeal to people looking for loads of action without much of the emotional drama but Shade’s Children was not one of my favourites.

http://kayaloves.blogspot.com (less)

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Jul 12, 2010 Daria rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

*Spoilers for him or her who cares whether this book has a happy ending or a sad one. (In retrospect, that's probably loads of people, but I'm always unwilling to mark the "contains spoilers" box. I usually try not to spoil things.)*

We open the first few pages and here we are, cheerily dropped by Garth Nix into a world in which seven psychopaths of a higher life form, apparently hailing from another dimension, have taken over this world and taken World of Warcraft to the next level. So far so go...more *Spoilers for him or her who cares whether this book has a happy ending or a sad one. (In retrospect, that's probably loads of people, but I'm always unwilling to mark the "contains spoilers" box. I usually try not to spoil things.)*

We open the first few pages and here we are, cheerily dropped by Garth Nix into a world in which seven psychopaths of a higher life form, apparently hailing from another dimension, have taken over this world and taken World of Warcraft to the next level. So far so good. But to further the sense of catastrophe, these Overlords' armies are powered by the brains and sinew of fourteen-year-old humans who are bred and raised in captivity. Said brain and sinew power a variety of freakish cyborg-things who, when not engaging in bouts of capture-the-flag, track down children escapees. (Every adult on the planet, however, had vanished when the Overlords came, so everything works out conveniently.)

Enter a myriad of characters, each of whom I found fully developed and interesting in their own right. The characters thus were a great success, as was the dystopian environment. The action unfolded well, gaining the right amount of momentum after the climax peaked. The alternation of chapters, jumping from third-person narrative to the inside of Shade's machine system, was an incredibly clever touch. The machine chapters served the dual purpose of being generally awesome and fulfilling the side of the plot which the narrative didn't. So, in midst of all this, what was lagging?

Garth Nix seems to like happy endings. Having created a plot this grim, one would be astounded that he'd be able to get away with a happily-ever-after in this case. Like the good writer he is, however, he steers us readers toward it. The reader has no choice but to heartily wish that the end of this particular story is happy. Indeed, there is so much dark content throughout the book that the ending desperately needs to turn out positive for our unfortunate protagonists.

But, given the overall dark content matter of the book, it must be positive to a certain extent.

There are several points which are left unresolved by Nix and which glaringly do require our attention. Throughout the book, Nix focuses us in on the setting and moment, letting our imagination supply the situation which is occuring elsewhere. Only through occasional lines do we surmise that the rest of Earth is in the same condition as the unnamed city in which the given events take course, for example.

Having endured Nix's dark world for several hundred pages, full of abandoned urban structures and flooded sewage tunnels and all manners of horrid, inhumane things which will creep after you, capture you, and take you to a factory plant for disassembly, the ending could not be more out of place. And so the daisies burst from the ground! The sun started shining and the birds began singing! And all who were present joined linked hands in a circle and...

You get the point. Well, it seemed that Nix left more to our imaginations. He did not specify whether the adults which were taken ever came back (we presume they did not). Nor does he tell us directly if the Overlords ever left. (This is also assumed.) Why not some more details, Mr. Nix? I mean, he left enough to write a whole companion novel, it seems. I think we'd like to know more about these parallel dimensions, and the world from which the Overlords came. Why do they look like us and yet act so brutally? Why would they treat those who look like them as animals? (Very nice allegory here by the way, Mr. Nix. I'm surprised those groups who are against animal testing/genetic meddling have't recruited this book as their manifesto yet.) And finally, how is it that, leaving the whole world post-apocalyptic and at the hands of a multitude of children, we see human civilization pick up right where it left off with hardly a blunder? That's a pretty far-fetched leap, and it was the one which made me unhappiest.

I must also add that I very much approved of Shade's machine-human struggle, although his redemption was rather bland. He had nothing to lose at the very end, so the final triumph over the Overlords did not feel as satisfying as it might have been.

All that said, if one performs a final leap of faith for Garth Nix (who, if you don't already know, wrote the stunning Sabriel, which you, without question, must immediately go read), one will find Shade's Children to be a compelling and blood-chilling telling of dystopian settings and events which hurdle by with barely a breath to spare. (less)

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Jan 21, 2009 Ryan Mishap rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

An odd dystopian novel with a pnderous ending--even the tragedy of the end can''t fully redeem the over-lying premise. Okay: the future where children are herded into fascist-like dormitories and when they reach a certain age, their brains are harvested for placement into cyborg warriors. Children manage to escape, though, and some have banded together in an old submarine under the control of Shade, a hologram imprint of a dead professor. The rules are just as strict here, and the children are...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Seawood rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, sci-fi, young-adult, kindle, 2012-200-books-challenge

An absolutely relentless dystopia. If you liked The Hunger Games and the Monsters of Men series, you may well like this; but be warned, there's very little in the way of redemption, human connection or joy-in-the-little-things here. It is seriously bleak and it never lets up for a moment. This is hard, unlovely, unpatronising sci-fi in a kill or be killed world where *everything* is out to get you. It is aimed at a YA audience and honestly, the reviews here make me laugh when they give warnings...more

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Jan 27, 2013 Helen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Reads very smoothly and the action scenes are depicted very nicely. It reads like a well-constructed movie. (If a screenplay was made for the book, it would be a pretty straightforward job.) The book is driven by actions rather than descriptions. The book's characters could have been one-dimensional and undeveloped, but like a good action movie, they are actually well characterized and likeable.

However as much as I liked Garth Nix's decision to write a movie-if-it-was-written book, I do wish he...more

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Jul 08, 2012 Stefanie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There were three reasons why Shade's Children only got 3 stars, for it was a entertaining storyline and you bonded with Ella, Ninde, Drum and Gold-Eye. First, after having read a series of dystopian novels such as the Gone series, Matched, The Maze Runner series etc.. I found the novel to have way too much sci-fi for my taste. Picking up the book, I excepted it to be similar to other dystopian novels. However, I found out later on that the author specializes in sci-fi.

Second, I found it hard to...more

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Dec 18, 2011 Lindsay rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It took some time for me to determine whether to give Shade's Children two or three stars... but decided on two in the end. The premise is compelling: four children (who appear to range in age from 15 to 19) escape from evil overlords who rule a dystopian future where humans don't live past age fourteen, and all adults have disappeared. On their "Sad Birthday," the children are taken to the "Meat Factory," where they are dissected and used for parts to create the Overlords' nightmarish creatures...more

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May 14, 2013 Sasha Herondale rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

i think i read this book like when i was in grade 6 and i was scared imagining a world were i would have died in 3 years. (i was 11 at the time)

Garth Nix is a FANTASTIC writer and i was hooked, i tell u HOOKED!!!! to this book till the end. It was one of the very few stand alone books that blew my mind....

fantastic writing and veryyyy original considering its a dystopian and i dont usually like dystopian (after suffering from PTSD from readin fail dystopians such as Matched and Delirium)

so yeh...more

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Sep 07, 2012 Stevecrandell rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: action, science-fiction, grades-9-and-up

The first 200+ pages of this dystopian sci fi thriller are excellent. Some strange force has triggered a radioactive Change and vaporized all humans 14 or older. Children are raised and harvested to bio-engineer the hideous creatures that patrol the battered landscape.

Shade is the creepy holograph mastermind of a band of child guerrillas. Or at least he’s creepy enough, until he goes all Dr. Evil. His sinister side becomes obvious and camp, complete with diabolical tics of suppressed diabolisho...more

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Aug 21, 2011 Johnny B rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A good book with no slow spots. Every chapter begins or ends with a data file from Shade and I think it really is a nice format for this story. It adds depth to some of the characters quite nicely.

There is a lot to recommend this book to people of a sci-fi interest. And few slightly annoying things. As I said, pace, plot, and character development and plot were great. There were a few glimpses of teens being the target audience but overall I would not say it was driven straight to that demograp...more

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Aug 05, 2011 Hannah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was an enjoyable book! I wish I knew more about the Overlords and how they got there and everything about that, but it was still a good book to read.

Also, I got bothered that Gold-Eye's character seemed to fade as the story went on. He seemed less of a "character" and more of a vessel for plot. Shade, on the contrary, grew stronger as a character as the book progressed, which was really nice to read.

The concepts and everything were very fascinating, and I loved the little bits where the Ov...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Amanda Northrup rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Set in a future dystopia, where the Overlords have decreed that no human can live past their 14th birthday, four fugitive teens set out to set society back on track. Under the watchful eyes of their once-human mentor, Shade, they come face to face with all manner of evils.

I really enjoy good dystopian fiction, but lately they all seem the same. Shade's Children was remarkably fresh and appropriately dark. The world of this book is the near-future, making the story terrifyingly believable.

The sto...more

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Jan 13, 2013 Ann added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2003, science-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 28, 2011 Veronika Duritzdeschain rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I did not expect to like this book as much as I did, but when it was finished in my hands there was that beautifully bitter sense of loss for a brilliant story completed and gone. Set in what one can only assume is the future, we follow four children who have been spared from the Meat Factory by a semi-human computer named Shade. In a world where Overlords have taken the planet for use in their war games, human children are only allowed to live until 14 before their organs are harvested to make...more

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Jan 30, 2013 Sean rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Again the cover art of a book caught my attention long enough for me to purchase it and walk out of the store...I was expecting something a bit more like dystopian fiction but ended up with a sci-fi action/horror book? The book has pieces of journal entry, the characters are videotaping themselves, and provides insight into certain things. The writing style is not bad at all and the plot has some great characteristics but I just had a hard time getting into it. A brief summary would be it is set...more

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Oct 18, 2011 Katrina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopian, fantasy, sci-fi, suspense

I have been wanting and meaning to read this book for years, ever since I first started reading Nix's the Abhorsen trilogy in middle/high school. This book did not disappoint me, even after all these years.

The organisation of this book is interesting, and adds to the story by giving background and small side notes between every chapter. These "inbetween chapters" also made it far more difficult to put the book down. "But I got to read this section, it's short!" (Not a good thing when you are re...more

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May 11, 2009 Marsha rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Tess Prudencio, Katreniah Washington

Picture this: A group of humans from another dimension come to Earth in the late 20th century and found a church and a religious movement. They direct their ignorant followers to build "churches" for them on mountaintops, on which the other-dimension humans install projectors that radiate energy. They cause these projectors to be installed on the rooftops of the tallest buildings in this unnamed metropolitan area in which this novel takes place. Once all their preparations have been done, they t...more

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Class of 2014: Shades Children	1	4	May 05, 2013 08:40pm
What's The Name o...: dystopian scifi cyberpunk computer ai guides a group of kids toward a sketchy goal? [s]	5	48	Apr 08, 2013 06:29am
Class of 2013: Cool Book	1	3	Mar 07, 2013 10:55am
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Sci-Fi Fantasy Bo...: Shade's Children	3	14	Dec 06, 2009 04:49am

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Science Fiction

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Fantasy

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Science Fiction > Dystopia

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Apocalyptic > Post Apocalyptic

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Young Adult > Teen

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Horror

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Science Fiction Fantasy

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Childrens

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Adventure

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About Garth Nix

Garth Nix was born in 1963 in Melbourne, Australia, to the sound of the Salvation Army band outside playing 'Hail the Conquering Hero Comes' or possibly 'Roll Out the Barrel'. Garth left Melbourne at an early age for Canberra (the federal capital) and stayed there till he was nineteen, when he left to drive around the UK in a beat-up Austin with a boot full of books and a Silver-Reed typewriter.

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Books by Garth Nix

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Drowned Wednesday (The Keys to the Kingdom, #3)

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Trivia About Shade's Children

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Quotes from Shade's Children

“VIDEO ARCHIVE-
INTERVIEW 24768 . GOLD-EYE
I like trees… grass… only birds in sky. People walking safe. Family
No Creatures. Sleep all night safe. Walk under sun in own place.
Grow plants. Build.
Be father with mother. Have Children. A place like Petar told me. Home.
After Change goes back…
I want home.” — 8 people liked it

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avg rating	preview: Shade's Children Goodreads rating: 3.89 (5799 ratings)
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Shade's Children

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