Shadowlark | Meagan Spooner | Book Review

Last summer, I read Meagan Spooner’s debut novel, Skylark and fell in love a little bit. Then this summer I read her sophomore work, These Broken Stars, co-written with Amie Kaufmann and basically decided it was one of my 2013 favorites. And thus it was with great anticipation that I read Shadowlark, the sequel to Skylark. Friends, while I do not think Shadowlark is as good as Skylark OR These Broken Stars, I absolutely do not regret my time reading it and in fact I am super pumped up for the final book in this steampunk-fantasy-dystopia trilogy.

Essentially, Shadowlark starts off with Lark Ainsley making her way to a new city with Tansy and Nix. OH and Oren is following them. So, they get to the city and are happy to see people. Only there is a PROBLEM, the people become shadow-people at night. Lark, Tansy, and Nix along with Oren end up in an underground city called Lethe. Lethe is pretty big and is also kind of a melting pot of people from all over. Unfortunately, rules are rather strict and Renewables either volunteer or are forced to provide the city with magic. Anyways, Lark falls in with a group of resistance fighters along with Oren who are looking to wrest control of Lethe from a mysterious leader named Promethus. Anyways, there’s also some connections with Lark’s brother Basil and that’s basically all I can tell you about the plot of Meagan Spooner’s Shadowlark.

I feel a bit bad for saying this but I am not particularly attached to Lark. She’s very nice and kind, but I don’t know, I just am not all OMG LARK YOU ARE MY SPIRIT ANIMAL. That’s okay though, because I don’t need to be attached to the main character to enjoy a book. In fact, I really did like Shadowlark and how Spooner developed Lark. She goes from being this scared sort of girl to someone who is going to do whatever it takes to save the Renewables and more importantly, her friend Tansy. I respect that. I think that friendship is always an important thing to develop. I also think that it was important that Spooner showed Lark as making quite a few missteps. Not all people do things perfectly or take the best possible path and I felt that by making Lark a person who does things that might be perceived as not the GREATEST IDEA EVER.

Now, if you are reading Shadowlark because you are all ROMANCE and OREN! I think you’ll be disappointed. There’s more pining than kissing, y’all. This book is more about the resistance and mission to save people than it is the developing relationship between Lark and Oren. I will state that there is no love triangle, so rest assured that the romance does not go into that overly-treaded direction.

I am still unclear on how some of the magic and energy powers the world within Shadowlark. I’ll admit to having confusion over what exactly the magic looks like and how the world works in this book. Also, the book did not read quite as fast as I had hoped. However despite my stumbling blocks, I was fairly invested in the plot of Shadowlark. I would still recommend this book to people who read and enjoyed Skylark. It just has a little bit of second book syndrome going on. That’s okay though because I still eagerly await book three.

Disclosure: Review Copy Provided By Author

Other reviews of Shadowlark by Meagan Spooner:

Finding Bliss In Books – “if you enjoyed Skylark you will love this book”
Ageless Pages – “much more tightly focused”

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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