Shadows by Robin McKinley

[Octobercountry]

I recently read Shadows by Robin McKinley:

A compelling and inventive novel set in a world where science and magic are at odds, by Robin McKinley, the Newbery-winning author of The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword, as well as the classic titles Beauty, Chalice, Spindle's End, Pegasus, and Sunshine.

Maggie knows something’s off about Val, her mom’s new husband. Val is from Oldworld, where they still use magic, and he won’t have any tech in his office-shed behind the house. But—more importantly—what are the huge, horrible, jagged, jumpy shadows following him around? Magic is illegal in Newworld, which is all about science. The magic-carrying gene was disabled two generations ago, back when Maggie’s great-grandmother was a notable magician. But that was a long time ago.

Then Maggie meets Casimir, the most beautiful boy she has ever seen. He’s from Oldworld too—and he’s heard of Maggie’s stepfather, and has a guess about Val’s shadows. Maggie doesn’t want to know . . . until earth-shattering events force her to depend on Val and his shadows. And perhaps on her own heritage.

In this dangerously unstable world, neither science nor magic has the necessary answers, but a truce between them is impossible. And although the two are supposed to be incompatible, Maggie’s discovering the world will need both to survive.

Unlike many of the author's previous novels, this isn't set in a fantasy world, but rather an alternate reality that in some ways mirrors our own, while in others is quite different. I enjoy alternate world stories, but it took me a while to get into the spirit of this novel.

To begin with, I found the heroine rather whiny and angsty. And the constant use of slang unique to this world may be a good example of world-building, but for some reason it annoyed the heck out of me. However, I kept reading and finally, about one-third of the way through the story, it took hold of my imagination at last and I was drawn into the lives of these characters.

However.... While the book does have a satisfactory conclusion---there is no cliffhanger ending---it is also very open-ended and a lot of questions aren't answered. This is a book begging for a sequel, but I have no idea if one is in the cards or not. I do know that her sequels to Pegasus  are still far from complete, so if she is going to continue with this tale I can only imagine that such a book is not scheduled for publication in the foreseeable future.

I'm a huge fan of McKinley's early work, but in recent years her novels have been hit-or-miss for me. So, on which end of the spectrum does this fall? I suppose it's more of a "hit" than a "miss"---however, my final opinion really depends on what happens next.

If she intended this to be a stand-alone, then quite frankly I'm left feeling more than a little ticked off. This is a fragment of a larger overall story, and if she didn't plan to revisit this world this book should have been condensed by at least a third of its length, and then a proper conclusion added.

Yep, I know---I have some nerve, telling an author what she should and shouldn't do! Not too demanding or overreaching of me to boss her around and tell her what she should do with her own creation, is it? Heh... But seriously, I would imagine that many editors would have had the same advice.

A lot of readers were irritated by the fact that Pegasus was published without an ending, and while she does intend to revisit that world with (last I heard) two sequels, there's still no telling how long it will be until they are released. If she's going the same route with this one, then I have no objection to waiting a while. But if this is IT, and there's no more story in the pipeline, then I am extremely unsatisfied with the way things were left.

It's quite a nice cover, though...