Review: The Shadowing: Hunted by Adam Slater

Summary/Cover Image from Publisher's Website:

Once every century, the barrier between the human world and the demon realm begins to break down. Creatures gather, anxiously waiting to cross the divide, to bring death and destruction from their world to ours. This time is called The Shadowing.

Callum Scott has always known that there is a supernatural world out there—he’s seen ghosts for as long as he can remember. Lately, he’s had visions of children being brutally murdered by a terrifying creature. Then the visions start coming true, and Callum realizes that he’s being hunted, too.

Driven by a dark destiny, he must stand against the demons that threaten our world.

And The Shadowing is almost here. . . .

Review:

Hunted, the first in The Shadowing series, is one book I wasn’t too sure about reading. I’m not the biggest fan of the cover, and the premise didn’t really sound like something I would personally enjoy. However, Hunted ended up surprising me in some big ways, because not only was I fully enchanted by the world presented, but I also adored nearly every scary yet delicious second of it.

Hunted starts just about how every other scary movie does: with the POV of the “bad guy”. However, it was the perfect way to start the book, in my opinion, because it managed to capture what the book would be like: frightening and eerie yet entertaining.

One of the ways that held true was through the plot. Adam Slater presented an interesting idea involving mythology as well as the supernatural with “The Shadowing." I really enjoyed learning more about it through the plot events as well as the challenges and dilemmas Callum faces throughout, especially when it threw some chilling twists and turns my way with not only change of events but also the switching of POVs.

Moreover, I really enjoyed the characters in this one, even though they weren’t the best developed or original. Callum was a likable protagonist, especially given the fact that he wasn’t the scared main character usually involved with scary books. Instead, Callum was almost dauntless, facing every problem thrown his way head on. I also enjoyed the addition of Callum’s grandmother, who managed to twist the books in some great ways as well, and the group of friends Callum managed to build up throughout Hunted.

Adam Slater’s writing was also decent. It wasn’t the best out there, but I really enjoyed the tone as well as voice he used in this…it felt almost like I was reading a movie screenplay in some ways, which was cool. Better yet, I loved the little twist he threw at the end, even though it means adding yet another sequel to my wish list.

In all, don’t let the cover of this one keep you away like it almost did to me, because Hunted is a great book, especially for fans of YA horror.

Grade: B+

The Shadowing: Hunted (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads) is now out!

Source: Publisher via Netgalley