Shadow Schism

by Alisha Adkins

Nick considers his life to be relatively normal. However, when a folk singer tells him that he is the embodiment of sin and a raven informs him that he has been chosen to save humanity from impending cataclysmic disaster, he begins to rethink that assessment. Then, just when Nick thinks he might be regaining his sanity, a woman named Susan seeks his assistance from shadows that are attacking her in a parking lot. From there, things start to get weird.

Although Nick is an unlikely (and not altogether willing) hero, when strange beings disguised as animals begin to talk to him, what real choice does he have but to listen? They tell him that mankind's collective unconscious is withering and dying, causing rifts to form between conscious reality and the shadow world. As these chasms grow, hostile animated shadows are beginning to leak into physical reality through the cracks. Unless he can seal the rifts, all of reality will be doomed.

Reluctantly, Nick embarks on a surreal journey, encountering nine different animal totems and seeking the aid of a witch, an oracle, and evasive subliminal agents. He clumsily battles against the denizens of shadow as they invade waking reality in a variety of harrowing forms. With a bit of luck, he might even figure out how to win Susan's heart along the way. But will he be able to find a way to close the rift between worlds before it's too late?

Droll, insightful, and unsettling, Shadow Schism may leave you questioning what is "real."

Genres: Fantasy

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 14, 2014

About the author

Alisha Adkins is a native of New Orleans and has also lived in Dallas, San Francisco, and Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. She holds a B.A. in history and a Masters in education from the University of New Orleans. After working as a high school English and history teacher for ten years, she eventually escaped, and now works as an educational consultant for a major publishing company.
Written in 1998, Flesh Eaters was her first work of length. She maintains that writing it was her natural psychological response to teaching middle school.
Other titles by Adkins include Daydreams of Seppuku and Making the Best of the Zombie Apocalypse.

Reviews

[Natalie Carey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book through Goodreads First Reads. ^.^

I liked the idea of the story, as well the descriptions of the environments and characters were beautiful, with the exception of the main protagonist, Nick. I felt as though I knew other characters more than I did him. The plot was also very disjointed and wasn't 'built up' (elaborated on/given enough time) as well as it should have been with all the elements that the author tried to incorporate into the story. Mind, I do enjoy and appreciate novels that jump from one story line to another, and back and forth, but this seemed abrupt, and often unconnected. It also seemed as though there were too many minor elements the author wanted to use as plot devices that weren't fleshed out very well, whereas even one or two done more thoroughly might have been more engaging and/or giving the reader a more active role in the story with a better ability to consider and 'put forth' solutions on how to save the collective unconscious - it would have put the reader better in Nick's position. For example, it is mentioned in the beginning of the book that Nick is the embodiment of sin, and that is brought up on a number of occasions, but it is never quite clear what the author had in mind on how to fully tie that in to the story. Although it is briefly mentioned that that is the type person needed to seal the tear between consciousness and unconsciousness, it is not clear why or what that serves in the story. It felt like ungrounded (doesn't seem to go with what little we know of him), superfluous information that didn't help to acquaint the reader with the protagonist. It is also touched on that it is never said WHICH sin he is the embodiment of (which I thought might be a key in the plot later when he needs to seal the rift), but it is never mentioned and it doesn't seem to be important in the story later on.

I did like the idea of a collective unconscious within all of humanity and that it can and was deteriorating due to our modern lifestyles, but I do wish it had been given more time, and perhaps the consequences of this could have been discussed at greater length as well. The nine psychoids that took different animal forms were a lot of fun though! As well as the story of the twin tattoo artists, the oracle, and the witch. Nick really went on an exciting journey and met great characters that aided him in his quest to seal the tear. Overall though, a good, fun, supernatural story that does put into perspective a possible consequence our modern lifestyles/society could have on humanity.




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Comments on the format/printing: all of which may be due to receiving an ARC and not the final printing. With the exception of the table of contents, the entire book was double spaced, large typed, and there were no page numbers. This was distracting for me personally, but that might simply be my extreme scrupulous personality, and so using the numbering given in the table of contents, I wrote in the page numbers at the start of each chapter. Again though, this may not be the case in the final published edition.