Promising premise. Possibilities. Intriguing situations and relationships.

BUSTED.

The style is abrupt, and bluntly lacking in information. The plot-twist is predictable from the first chapter, the characters have what another reader aptly described as "emotional ADHD," and, Oh!, it could have been SOOOOOO much better. It had promise, and it failed. Unlike other books that need editing, this one needs EXTENSIVE editing and should have been rewritten another ten times, with a greater amount of time spent observing human nature and less time reading Twilight and paperback romances. ( )

Switching the girls at birth - not a unique plot element. There's not even a new twist on it. Still, good character development of Shadow. Ending was a bit of a let down - expected more of a confrontation and for Shadow herself to have a bigger hand in the take down. ( )

It was an all right read. ( )

A decent fantasy read, but I had such a tremendous difficulty liking the characters or feeling like the politics were making sense that it was far from a pleasant reading experience. It was all a little too vague and read like it was being told third-hand. The idea of exploring Shadow's role as the shadow of the ersatz Queen Audrey (that whole switch was apparent to me pretty much once they were both introduced) appealed to me (a teeny bit), but what I instead received was a rather mushed conglomeration of goddesses, an ancient earth religion and a romance that was devoid of any spark of authenticity. ( )

Amazing! Similar to Graceling in that the main character is blessed/cursed with a gift. Interesting mystery/adventure. I think middle school kids will really enjoy this. ( )