Reviews for Y in the Shadows (XYZ Trilogy Series)

The average rating for Y in the Shadows (XYZ Trilogy Series) based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-09-21 00:00:00 Vincent Cheung It's been a long time since I've read a book, much less finish one. So I'm glad that the first book that I pick up to read is Y in the Shadows. Y in the Shadows chronicles a teenage girl named Yale that discovers that she has the ability to disappear from sight. So, in a way it's like most of the"I just go superpowers" stories out there. You know, the ones where the main character questions why they have the powers, and what they are supposed to do with them. Except that in this case, it was more character driven than other stories. The way the story is told is different as well. Whatever made Karen Rivers decide to have 3 different narrators that are unique and distinct form one another should be worshiped. Seriously. I've never read a book that had 2 of the narrators written in 1st person and the third written in 3rd person. At least any that were good enough to remember. Honestly, I'm 99.9999% sure that I've never read anything that was written in such a way. The story is told by Yale, the loner and freak of her high school (1st person POV); Tony, the athletic and popular guy (1st person POV); And Michael, the popular girl who's overly obsessed with perfection (3rd person) (Yes, Michael is a girl. That gave me a slight jolt the first time I read it). I like how distinct they are from each other. Yes, I know I've mentioned the unique-ness of each of the narrators, but it's seriously worth mentioning a few more times. One of my favourite things about this style of narration is how each character viewed each other and certain events. The only complaint I have about Rivers' style of narration was that the very first time the story went from Tony to Michael. That first transition, I found, was jarring. I had to go back to check, to make sure that Tony really was told in a 1st person point of view, while Michael was told in a 3rd person point of view. But that was about it. Another thing worth mentioning is the fact how vivid everything was. This ties in with how distinct the characters are, which you are probably sick of me mentioning (hey, one of my favourite writters is Joss Whedon, and he's all about the characters. Have you seen Firefly?). But this was so cool. When one of the narrators was describing something, I understood how they felt and I was there with them. But more there than anything else. It was like I was in their head and in their skin. It made me kinda dizzy (but that might be because I was dehydrated). Honestly, I want to be able to write like this. To be able to actually take a reader into a character's head and make them forget that they are actually reading, until their boss catches them doing so and-… so, yea, I want to be able to write like that. (xposted at adhdreviews.tumblr.com)

Review # 2 was written on 2010-10-26 00:00:00 Les Dotson This book was very disjointed, the change from each of the three narrators were very jerky. It took until the last 50 or so pages before the book got really good. I even had a hard time liking 2 of the main characters, they really had to have something bad happen to them before they were redeemed. I won't be checking out the next book, after these first 2 being meh.... it just isn't worth it.