Cast in Shadow by Michelle Sagara

Cast in Shadow by Michelle Sagara is a book about outgrowing a victim mentality, finding your strength and embracing your purpose. It would be a nice book to give to a 12- or 13-year-old girl, especially one who may be struggling with identity or self-esteem issues. Two things would stop me from sharing it: inadequate world-building and poor writing… Sagara has let her imagination out to play in Cast in Shadow, but it takes a disciplined writer’s mind to conjure the concrete details needed to make a place seem real, and I do not see evidence of that discipline in this book… The ideas here, though, are good. If you find the book used and inexpensive there’s no reason not to pick it up, especially if a long wait or an airplane ride is in your future. Read the rest.