Book Review: Shadows

Title: Shadows
Author: Ilsa J. Bick
Publisher: Egmont USA
Rating: 2

Synopsis (via Goodreads): The Apocalypse does not end. The Changed will grow in numbers. The Spared may not survive. Even before the EMPs brought down the world, Alex was on the run from the demons of her past and the monster living in her head. After the world was gone, she believed Rule could be a sanctuary for her and those she'd come to love. But she was wrong. Now Alex is in the fight of her life against the adults, who would use her, the survivors, who don't trust her, and the Changed, who would eat her alive. Welcome to Shadows, the second book in the haunting apocalyptic Ashes Trilogy: where no one is safe and humans may be the worst of the monsters.

Review: Just a heads up that this one contains, yet again, spoilers. Reader discretion is advised. 

I was determined to read Shadows after I finished Ashes, but now I don't know if I want to get a copy of Monsters to even finish the trilogy. That's how frustrated I am with Alex's story.

First off, we found Tom. BUT WHERE IS ELLIE? (I have no clue where she is. Best bet is that she's dead or Changed). Tom almost found Alex, but she got herself trapped in a hole. I don't remember how she ended up in that hole because at least five different stories were being told at once.

Don't get me wrong, I love reading from different points of view in a book, but FIVE?!? That's overkill. And it doesn't help when the character's name isn't the chapter title or the font is kept the same throughout the book. It would take me four or five paragraphs to find out who the narrator was and that got me distracted from the story as a whole.

Which reminds me, I don't think any of the characters grew at all. They stayed the same throughout the whole novel, making it a little dull for me. If anything, Alex's intelligence is going down the drain. Instead of being a kick-ass heroine, she's becoming a damsel in distress. She got herself stuck in a hole for crying out loud!

I was so excited for this book, but once I finished it, I was disappointed. I think I would've enjoyed it if it wasn't for the multiple character point of view and if it would've stuck to the main plot that started in Ashes. If only...