In Review: Ignite the Shadows by Ingrid Seymour
Format: Paperback & Ebook
Publisher: Harper Voyager
ISBN-13: 978-0008120498
I received an early copy for review for
the Xpresso Book Tour. The book is available now in e-formats, but
will be available in paperback come October. It's the first
installment in a planned trilogy, with good world building and a
likable heroine.
Sixteen-year-old Marci Guerrero is one
of the best teen hackers in Seattle. However, she’d give up all her
talents to know she isn’t crazy. Since the death of her father,
she's lead a bleak life. She's been running from shadows most of her
life, certain that something is very wrong with her, and she's right,
but its nothing that she could have ever imagined. Her mother thinks
that she's suffering from epilepsy, rather than unknowingly fighting
an alien invasion.
Marci feels possessed by shadowy
spectres that take control of her body and make her do crazy things.
The blackouts and loss of control are signs that a parasite has
latched onto a person’s brain and is trying to take control of its
host. Most succumb to the infection within a few days, but not Marci,
she's survived for more than eleven years.
While spying on the clandestine group
known as IgNiTe, she is confronted by their mysterious leader, James
McCray. His presence stirs the spectres inside her brain into a
maddening frenzy. Her symptoms and ability to control them don’t go
unnoticed by James, who soon recruits her. As IgNiTe reveals its
secrets, Marci starts to realize that half the world’s population
is infected with sentient parasites, which are attacking and
eventually supplanting the human brain.
Now Marci wishes she was crazy, because
this truth is far worse. The Eklyptors, the ancient and invading
force has a smart and very scary plan for the human race. While the
idea of body snatching and alien invasions are nothing new, it
doesn't make the palpable fear of slowly losing control any less
real. Who's infected and controlled, and who isn't becomes a very
scary question, and propels a lot of the story along.
The entire tone of the story is dark
and very angsty, with a dystopian backdrop that'll delight the
targeted young adult audience. The journey is very bleak, with a
happy ending not likely. While there is plenty to love about the
novel, there are a lot of glaring plot holes, with strings of story
lines tossed to the side as new elements added. Being the first in a
planned trilogy though, allows the opportunity for these issues to be
corrected and for the story to feel more complete.
The action is well written, but IgNiTe
has a bad habit of keeping too many secrets that could really enhance
not only the reader's experience, but Marci's as well. She's
consistently berated for doing the wrong thing, when she isn't given
all of the details. It happens too often. A better approach would
have been for the strong willed protagonist to have chosen to go
against protocol because of her own internal compass rather than
being helpless and having no control of any situation.
Ignite the Shadows
is off to a great and very intriguing start. It's the perfect mix of
active storytelling and teenaged romance, without the romance being
the full focus of the story. It's a great first book in the series.
I'll be looking forward to book two, which will be released in 2016.
Purchase:
Great review, Sue! This sounds like an entertaining read! Glad you liked it! :)
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