Monster High/Ever After High: The Legend of Shadow High

Ever After High #4

by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale

A dangerous story is bubbling and almost all the Narrators are scared to tell it. Cracks in the World of Stories are spreading, and the ominous Shadow High is gaining power. Only one young, brave Narrator, Brooke Page, is ready to tell this tale.

As the first cracks show, Frankie and Draculaura are accidentally transported to Ever After High, where they meet Raven Queen and Apple White. After the girls recover from the shock of learning that fairytales and monsters are real, they discover that the Evil Queen has escaped her mirror prison in search of the ultimate power, hidden in Shadow High. Frankie, Raven, Draculaura, Apple, and Brooke must stop the Evil Queen and save the World of Stories from the evil that lurks in Shadow High!

©2017 Mattel. All Rights Reserved.

Genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Fiction, Adventure, Young Adult, Fairy Tales, Childrens

336 pages, Hardcover

First published October 17, 2017

About the author

Shannon Hale is the New York Times best-selling author of six young adult novels: the Newbery Honor book Princess Academy, multiple award winner Book of a Thousand Days, and the highly acclaimed Books of Bayern series. She has written three books for adults, including the upcoming Midnight in Austenland (Jan. 2012), companion book to Austenland. She co-wrote the hit graphic novel Rapunzel's Revenge and its sequel Calamity Jack with husband Dean Hale. They live near Salt Lake City, Utah with their four small children, and their pet, a small, plastic pig.

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

My heart is broken over he fact that this is probably the last of the Ever After High media we’ll ever see, but it was a wonderful send off. I’m so glad they brought Shannon Hale back to do it. She really gets the fun, meta-narrative themes, and the use of choose your own adventure style writing near the end was perfect. I’m also glad we finally got our MH/EAH crossover, even though it takes place after Monster High’s reboot and it’s not animated. I pine for you everyday, The Lost Movie.

The only thing that bothers me? Cupid is never mentioned, and I wanted to see how they would dance around that one, but it turns out they just ignored it. Too bad. It could have been great.

[Dorian Jandreau · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted Monster High and Ever After High crossover for so long. A movie or a book. A book happened.

This book follows the Monster High reboot story: Dracula as a Headmaster, Frankie and Draculaura founding Monster High, Moanica in the school and etc. People who say they didn’t know Frankie and Draculaura founded Monster High, obviously aren’t fans of MH if they know nothing of the reboot that happened in 2016… (I’m a doll collector of both series and dedicated fan) Both series meet in this book to solve a mystery of Shadow High. It’s also a book where you, Reader, are included too! Yes, you are! As a reader you are the most powerful in this story.

The only sad thing about the story is that it’s probably the last book… I enjoyed reading EAH and MH books.

[Maisie]

the cross over the gays need

[Xristiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked it! It was intresting and the writting style it was just amazing. 4,5 stars!

[S.M. Boren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received the ARC of The Legend of Shadow High by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale from #kidlitexchange to read in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 I was so excited to read this book that when I received it I read it straight through without setting it down! Amazingly written to trap your attention in several stories and situations at once. Brooke Page narrates this book without even graduating from high school and quickly describes footnotes and how they work. Monster High characters Frankie and Draculaura are vividly described first and a few chapters later you meet Apple White and Raven Queen. And of course no story is complete without an Evil Queen. After discovering one another in storage ways they are forced to ban together to save their friend Madeline Hatter and ultimately the storybook world. There is an awesome section that turns the story into a choose your own adventure, I recommend you try them all. I did! Review also posted on Instagram @jasonnstacie, Library Thing, and my blog at https://readsbystacie.com.

[Katie Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this because a seven year old I love told me to and I simply can’t say no to a child. Was this written for adults in mind? No. Was it cute? Absolutely.

I also thought the narrative devices used in the book were a really great way to introduce children to literary devices and prose. The addition of having the ‘reader’ write down rheir own idea to get our main characters out of a jam was also the cutest thing ever I would have gone feral for that as a child.

[Olivia.Poole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved how they were scared of each other then they learned to use their differences to save the realm of stories from Raven's mother. They traveled all of the realm to fight Raven's mom then she realized this was a force to powerful for even her. Then they went into the school, and meant this woman who could control the story's with her force and had to trick her and save the day.

[Gail Fazio · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was adventurous. I loved that Monster High and Ever After High characters met each other. I loved how the characters helped each other.

[✨Jinglemarco✨ · Rating 1 out of 5]

2.5 stars

This was an utter disappointment for me! I hextremely love the Ever After High series (even though I have yet to read the School Stories) and I don't fancy the Monster High one - my interest is directed toward fairy tales - but this new installment is totally bland, vaguely boring and, really, the shadow of the previous books by Shannon Hale.
Few wordplays and fairytale references (but there aren't fairy tale characters here, a part from Apple, Raven, Maddie, Kitty and the Evil Queen, indeed), and a confusing and very simple plot make this book tedious to read. I was hexpecting an amazing yarn to enjoy, but the only things I enjoyed are the less frequent than usual clever sentences and the references to the Santa Claus daughter, which isn't enough in two lines at most. And the Ever Afters don't know about Santa Claus? What?! At this point I really hope there will be someday an Ever After High tale about the North Pole Village or something!
This franchise, and Shannon Hale, could do way more... I'm thining about retellings of the Nutcracker and the Mouse King, for example, or of Russian/ Arabian/ Norwegian/ Japanese fairy tales or other. They have demonstrated to be able to make relive classic folktales and in my opinion they should go further.

[Desiree Velasco · Rating 5 out of 5]

The legend of Shadow High by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale,is an extraordinary book that tells a story of a legend.As the story goes,Frankie and Draculuara get transported to Ever After High where they meet Apple White,Raven Queen.Recovering from learning that their two worlds,fairytales and monsters do exist,they find out that Ravens mom,the Evil Queen,escapes her mirror prison and is hidden in Shadow High.Their journey soon begins as they save both their worlds.
This book is an amazing book.I would suggest this book for people that love to finish of a part in a book,or also for people that love a book filled with adventure.I loved this book and I suggest you read it to.

[Jade · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a reread for me and I had as much fun this time around as the first. I love both monster high and ever after. Watching the shows, movies and reading the books and I love how well this cross over was done. It was a really clever idea the reason behind the characters not knowing about the other story book worlds. Also at the end I loved the added extra of the make your own stories from the 90s added in. I loved those books when I was a kid and I enjoy the nostalgia that it gave me.
Over all this is a fun time of a read and is for any age that just wants a feel good book of friendship.

[Cerise Heartfilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm happy that finally there is a book where ever after high and monster high meet 🙈🙊🌸✨🌟🌟🙊but I would have really liked that more characters from ever after high get to know monster high or at least that cerise would had more moments in the book, she was one of the first persons that saw Draculaura and Frankie I think it was unfair for her she didn't participate more in the story . But anyways I like the book😍😍😍and Maddie as always my favorite character🎂🌺🍮🍰✨☕️🍩🍪🍩🍰

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

Such a disappointment - in part, I think, because of Mattel's reboot of the MH franchise, which feels more like the Lissi Harrison novelizations than the series I came to enjoy. Between the strange new dynamic of the MH girls and the weirdness that is Apple and Raven acting like best friends, which is totally out of character, to say nothing of how irritating Brooke's narration and asides are, this just made me want to reread my other EAH novels and forget that this one existed.

[Jasmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We don't have the power to save them, dearie. I do. Would you have put the chisel in if I had not taken it?"
"Yes!"
"Of COURSE you would have," the Evil Queen says. "Which means there was no other choice for you. You were trapped. Without choice, there is no power."

I did not expect to be this emotional over the Evil Queen, of all characters.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shannon Hale's return to EAH is very welcome. This book, written with her husband, makes excellent use of the combination of MH and EAH characters. Very humorous and creative in terms of narration. This was a very fun read.

[Ness ┏ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ┛ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This works best as a standalone since it doesn't really tie in with the story and conflict of the previous books.

I wasn't much into it at first, I liked that the narrator is now an actual character, the daughter of the previous narrators, but at the same time it took the focus out of the story as opposed to her parents having short chats with Maddie or Kittie but as the story moved along she started to grow on me.

The final chapters were definitely the best part, they commited fully to Brooke, the narrator, and were crazy creative. There's even a choose your own adventure type section that I really enjoyed.

Also, Frankie totally has a crush on Apple.

[Vicki Jaeger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the mashup of the two worlds!
Some of the clever word play surrounding the narrator (and the world of a narrator):
"At the edge of town, Brooke enters Grammar Forest, hopping over root words and ducking under the dangling participles. A breeze weaves through the trees, pushing fallen nouns into piles on the ground. Verbs hop, wiggle, and march by, and Brooke leaps over them. Adjectives float like seed puffs, sticking to anything they touch. She brushes several adjectives out of her hair and runs faster."

[Nina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will never reread this.

[Sara☽༊‧₊˚ (hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

—☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ "It wasn't perfect," Frankie says.
"Eh, perfect is boring.”

FUCK DISNEY FOR ROBBING US OF ONE OF THE GREATEST CROSSOVERS OF ALL TIME.

also, frankie & apple..I SHIP

[Mary_ame · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️

[Prisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok so I was sooo confused in the beginning, but this book was still good. There was so much world building in this book regarding other lands other than Ever After and wherever Monster High is. I liked that we got a new narrator character.

This story seems to take place a little while from where the last book ended, so it was cool to see the development of some of the Ever After characters, namely Apple. She has matured and grown so much from the first book, and while she certainly showed her own prejudices and flaws when she met Frankie, she grew from them and it was nice to see.

Honestly the reason I just didn’t like the book in the beginning was because of the background of the Monster High characters. I did some research on why the authors were saying that Frankie and Draculaura founded the school, and apparently, that is the origin story in Generation 2 of the Monster High series, as in the reboot.

Now, I’m ngl, that sucks. I liked the original story, with Frankie being the new girl at Monster High and then becoming friends with all the main characters. Especially because I’m the original, Clawdeen and Draculaura were best friends and I absolutely adored their friendship, but that’s changed in Gen 2. Like they’re still friends, but they become friends after Drac and Frankie found Monster High.

Now all that is none of the writers’ faults because they’re required to work with the canon to make these stories. I’m just saying, the reboot was hated for a reason.

And if you’re reading this, literally what are you doing? I use reviews like diary entries for me, and me alone, to look back on what I thought about books. Why are you reading a 16-almost-17-year-old’s review on a book series for children?

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 (now 5 stars)

It was kind of sad that they brought back the fairy good Ever After High just to sell more Monster High dolls, but Shannon, once again, works her magic. Loved the choose-your-own-adventure part! (That was just my review from memory from a few years ago, not part of my reread of this series. I will update with new review later.)

Update: I take back anything bad I said before. This is amazing. There were equal amounts of EAH and MH, and Shannon Hale is amazing. Don't listen to the other revuews, this was just as good as the main trilogy. This ends my reread binge for this series. :(

[sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED THIS SMMMMMM
GOD IF ALL THE GIRLS DONT MEET AGAIN I WILL CRYYYY
THIS AKSO CANNOT BE THE KAST RAVEN AND APPLE BOOK POV THING
I WANTED FROM PERSONAL SCENES W THEM I DIS,JKED THAT IT FELT LIKE IT WAS MOSTLY FRANKIE WE GOT CLOSE TO
I GET IT THO SINCE WEVE ALR HAD THAT W APPLE AND RAVEN
I WISH WE HAD MORE AR SCENES AND RF SCENES
ALSO WHY IS EVERYTHING ABT NARRATORS NOW
IDC THO WISH THIS WAS LONGER AND THEY WERE ALL A BIT CLOSER BUT I J LOGED ITTTTTTTTTTTTT BYEBY

[Gracie Dix · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun middle grade read, set in magical high schools. Fans of Monster High and Ever After High will love this book. It's part of a series too - which is always my favorite - I love being able to continue to read about favorite characters and magical worlds! Also, it is co-written by Shannon Hale, who is an awesome middle grade author. Enjoy!

[Joella · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I am done with this series. Good ideas. The characters are just starting to drive me nuts.

[Sid · Rating 3 out of 5]

M I D hard to get through at the end

[Caleb Martini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brooke Page my beloved she's SO girlypops coded <3

[Tiffany Spencer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Monster High\Ever After High: Shadow High
After a failed assignment to give a report about how they started Monster High for Mr. Rotter, Frankie and Draculaura while researching discovers some pages about another monster high school called Shadow High. They notice weird things happen whenever they mention the name to other people (dropping temperatures, plopping noises, etc).

When trying to use the Mapalouge (a monster detection device complete with a map and Skulette teleporter) to locate Shadow High, tremors shake MH. On the second try to map opens up to whole new locations. One being a place called Ever After High. Meanwhile in Ever After the Evil Queen (locked away in a mirror cell) feels a tremor. Disappointed, that she wasn’t the one who caused it, she does a spell to see who did and overhears Frankie and Draculaura talking about Shadow High. She makes a crack in the mirror realizing that the next tremor will cause a fracture and allow her to slip through and go to Ever After High (where she’ll get to see Raven and find out about Shadow High-which she knows holds power-.

In Baba Yoga’s class, tremors appear. Baba Yoga falls off her stool after saying Shadow High but has no memory of it afterward. Raven tells Apple but she says it sounds evil and to just let it go. But then they see a woman that looks like her mother in the hallway. They fall her to the library but when they get there no one’s inside. Raven does a spell and notices a mirror door with an empty room inside. The room turns out to be a secret room for hidden books. There’s one for a school called Monster High and there’s a pamphlet that has the words “Shadow High” and “Narrator”. Maddie then shows up and gives Apple and Raven a message from the narrators (she’s the only one who can hear them). The message is STOP! Before they can think on it the bell rings and they head back to their classes.

The Evil Queen meanwhile has located Monster High, shown up, and gives a speech to her equals of darkness that she will lead them to power. (It’s actually kinda funny the MH students don’t take her serious and think she’s a new teacher). Frankie and Draculaura end up at Ever After High in front of Milton Grimm after using a device of Frankie’s involving lightning. All the EAH students are scared of Frankie and Draculaura, so they run into the woods and soon are discovered by Cerise Hood and Baba Yaga. Baba Yaga leads them to Milton Grimm who tells them he has to keep them in his office until he finds out who they really are (since none of them believe in monsters). Raven, Apple, Maddie, Frankie, and Draculaura get acquainted over tea. After finally coming to term with the fact that each other really exist, Raven starts to feel guilty about not immediately doing something about seeing her mother. She knows she has to stop her if she‘s at Monster High. Meanwhile at MH, Moanica and the Evil Queen team up. Frankie, Apple, Raven, and Draculaura rescue Maddie and catch up to the Queen. She gives them a spiel about how she’s trying to stop the narrators from dictating their future and unite the lands (just like Draculaura tried to do when she started MH).

She uses a spell to get a chisel that’s kept Shadow High locked. But as the island with Shadow High draws nearer, with it unleashes waves of lava, that neither Raven or her mother can hold back with magic. There’s a bridge that leads back to MH. Moanica and the Zomboyz flee to MH and so does Draculaura. The Queen leads the others to another bridge.

A thick fog engulfs EAH and some of it disappears. Maddie goes missing and Kitty says she saw Zomboyz take her. Frankie, Raven, Apple, and Draculaura find a hidden bridge that leads them to The Margin where imagination is at its highest. After defeating nightmare scenarios and Zomboys the compass points them to the Lost Library. The Evil Queen has Maddie in the dungeon of the Lost Library and tries unsuccessfully to get out of her what she knows about the narrators. She’ll use them to locate Shadow High which she’ll rule over. She also wants to take the narrator’s power.

Shadow High was created at the center of the World of Stories where all the stories are joined. Mrs. Direction (one of the narrators. OH, I SEE WHAT THEY DID THERE! Wanted to control the stories. So a brave narrator took the chisel of the first story and locked Shadow High. As a result of the lava from the volcano at Shadow High, it began to break into pieces and the land was separated. Until Frankie and Draculaura begin to search them out. Then they felt the pull and wanted to again be connected. So now they have to find Shadow High and lock It off again before the volcano’s lava again destroys all the worlds. When they make it to Shadow High the lava has melted everything down to just letters. Even Ms, Direction. She commands them all to sit still and wait until the end and she’s so powerful, not even Brooke can break her commands.

Brooke decides to be a character in the story and with the help of (us) the reader's story, she gets our help on a path to take with the characters. Raven with the help of Draculaura and Frankie is able to get inside the volcano but the Evil Queen tricks Raven, kicks her out, and attaches the chisel before disappearing. As the bridge starts to collapse Frankie and Draculaura head back to MH and Apple, Raven, and Maddie return to EAH.


My Thoughts:
This wasn’t good! Interestingly I’ve wanted to read this book for a long time, but it was so hard to find. It was TIRING to read. 1. UGG it’s the remade version of the story. The remade to me just felt like a cheap, watered-down, version with no soul. I will never understand why they went there and changed it (although I kinda do know that it was a compromise to make adult parents more comfortable with the image). But it really DID NOT need to be remade over. 2. You would think with a name like SHADOW High in the title I’d be a dark place with dark students. But it takes us all the way up to Chapter 26 to learn what Shadow High is and when we do it’s confusing and boring. It’s like waiting and waiting and waiting for a Halloween party and then finding out the person you like least in the world is gonna be there. 3. There’s too much build-up wasted on things like tremors (yes we get it do we need three chapters to demonstrate the point?) Or Brooke adding UNNECESSARY footnotes that make the story drag. Or conversations with Maddie. Maddie was annoying also because her dialogues were always gibberish and she *REALLY* did not need to be a character in this. It felt like she was just there to fill space. 4. Then I know EAH books (and cartoons) are cotton candy-ish, but this was just filled with so much fluff. Bunnies and goats appearing out of nowhere! The Queen even reads like a parody torturing people with SPRAY BOTTLES?! Toward the end, I started to read in quickly in order to not have to spend another day reading it.

Rating: 2
I didn’t give it one because I didn’t hate it, But I don’t particularly think there was anything I liked about it either.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

lowkey underwhelming, especially since everyone’s been looking forward to eah x monster high for so long. i really wish it was gen 1 monster high instead of gen 2 because i feel like it has better lore and is the era people are more familiar with.

also i thought so many things happened that didn’t make sense and plot points that had potential to be very interesting were rushed (but then again i’m 20 years old reading a children’s book so i can’t be nit-picky)

i did think the ending was clever though

ps justice for my girl c.a. cupid. she didn’t deserve this blatant erasure

[Eva Kovacs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn’t my favourite but still good would have liked it better if it was g1 monster high but it still worked out. (Was surprised the Zomboyz and Monica made a appearance)
Confused why Cupid didn’t make an appearance, but maybe that was supposed to happened in the next book because the last chapter hinted at it, though I know that’s never happening now.
Very happy we got to see more of the Evil Queen, and very happy she didn’t die!
Not the biggest fan of Brooke missed her parents as the narrators, though glad they still had some presence in the book.
Overall was good and great to have read to see what we could have gotten with the crossover movie.