Shadow Run Review (Young Adult Science Fiction)

Book cover for Shadow Run Shadow Run: Nev has just joined the crew of the starship Kaitan Heritage as the cargo loader. His captain, Qole, is the youngest-ever person to command her own ship, but she brooks no argument from her crew of orphans, fugitives, and con men. Nev can’t resist her, even if her ship is an antique.

As for Nev, he’s a prince, in hiding on the ship. He believes Qole holds the key to changing galactic civilization, and when her cooperation proves difficult to obtain, Nev resolves to get her to his home planet by any means necessary.But before they know it, a rival royal family is after Qole too, and they’re more interested in stealing her abilities than in keeping her alive.

Nev’s mission to manipulate Qole becomes one to save her, and to survive, she’ll have to trust her would-be kidnapper. He may be royalty, but Qole is discovering a deep reservoir of power–and stars have mercy on whoever tries to hurt her ship or her crew.

–S&S–

Shadow Run Review

Shadow Run is a young adult science fiction novel. It’s the first in the Kaitan Chronicles. It’s also a book that I almost gave up on, and ended up loving. I was to the point where I was going to DNF it because it just wasn’t drawing me in. But then somehow, within the space of a few pages, something changed and I was hooked. I can’t even pinpoint what it was, but everything just seemed to click suddenly.

One of the things that I loved about Shadow Run was Basra, and how the authors handle their gender fluidity. It was accepted by everyone in the novel. Sometimes the character was masculine, sometimes feminine, but always Basra, the one in a relationship with the Captain’s brother. There is no drama surrounding the character related to this, no stereotypical bigot to cause a scene. Most of the other characters in Shadow Run are forgettable for most of the book. They only come into their own in the end. Watching Nev grow up was kind of heart-breaking, but well handled.

It’s hard to make sweeping statements about Shadow Run, because of my differing reactions to the beginning and the end. The plot was nothing new, the dialogue not particularly snappy. But the fight scenes were extremely well executed. The authors do a fantastic job in the last half of the book at building up tension and drama. When everything kicks into gear, I was completely invested in what was happening. It went from being a book I could barely pay attention to, to one that had me on the edge of my seat, cheering the characters on. Especially Nev and Eaton.

Shadow Run is a young adult novel, so of course, there is romance. However, the authors do a decent job of developing the relationship slowly. The fact that it didn’t involve large amounts of hormonal thoughts and eyelash flutterings made it much more tolerable. Everything that the characters go through make the base for the relationship feel more sturdy than most portrayed in this type of novel.

Overall, it definitely has its issues, but Shadow Run does end up being worth the time and the money. I honestly believe this is one of those series where each book is just going to keep getting better.