Shade’s Children - Garth Nix
I have always liked Garth Nix’s books and when this one came out I couldn’t wait to read it.
Shade’s Children is set in some futuristic city where no child is allowed to live past the age of 14. There are some older children who have managed to escape this awful fate and are now part of a resistance to bring down the evil Overlords who rule the city.
Under the rule of Shade, the children work to get the city back to how it was before the Change, all the while trying to evade the Overlords’ savage creatures.
This book is written very well and the description really gives you an idea of what this desolate and evil city is like. The creatures are also described with great detail and when one appears in the story I almost felt the fear that the children were feeling. The story itself keeps you gripped to the very end and I felt very attached to the four main children Ella, Drum, Ninde and Gold-Eye. This book, unlike most of Garth Nix’s others, is definitely for older readers as it contains sexual scenes and strong language but this gives it a very real and gritty feeling and doesn’t shy away from what would really happen if there was no one else in the world apart from escaped adolescent children.
Plot – 16/20
Characters – 14/20
Description – 14/20
Overall Enjoyment – 17/20
Percentage – 76%
