≡ Descargar The Madness Underneath Shades of London MAUREEN JOHNSON 9780007432271 Books

The Madness Underneath Shades of London MAUREEN JOHNSON 9780007432271 Books

Download As PDF : The Madness Underneath Shades of London MAUREEN JOHNSON 9780007432271 Books

The Madness Underneath Shades of London MAUREEN JOHNSON 9780007432271 Books

If at any point during the first, say, 3/4 of this book you had asked me what I'd rate it, I'd have said five stars. Hands down. The writing is so smooth. I simply *like* Rory as a character. Love the voice, the fact that she really is an average girl, totally easy to relate to. I was sucked in, reading along, just loving it...until, I realized everything I thought was subtly building up to something was not.

The fact is, nothing really happens until the very end, and then it all happens very quickly and unimpressively. This entire book feels like a bridge. Like, well, time needs to pass so *the big ending twist* can happen, and we can actually move into the real story the author had in mind.

It's hard, too, to write about what frustrates me because it's directly related to the end. It truly could have been just as twisty--and would have had MORE impact, if the whole Jane part of the plot had been left out and things focused on Rory and the Shades. That's all I'll say.

I'll still read the next book, because I have a feeling the author will be tying a lot of the loose strings together and despite it all I just love the author's writing. But for now, I'm frustrated with how this one ended--enough to knock two stars off my rating.


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The Madness Underneath Shades of London MAUREEN JOHNSON 9780007432271 Books Reviews

I've seen some reviews talk about how this book isn't as good as Name of the Star, which of course is the first book of the series (Shades of London). But I disagree. While it may not contain the same amount of suspense as the first book, I think Madness Underneath does a really great job at following up on the life of Rory and her friends and of course the next chapter. There is far more character development on the part of Rory, we learn a great deal more about the other Shades (Stephen especially), the Sight and the book introduces a much larger plot. In my opinion, Madness Underneath is a far more interesting than the first book. It was so interesting, in fact, that I read the book rather quickly. Less than a week, even on my busy schedule. I'm rabid to find out where Maureen Johnson is going to take the series.

I discovered the series simply because I happened upon Johnson on twitter (if you don't follow her, you should...she's hilarious). After about a year of her antics on twitter, I decided to pick up the series. I don't know that her other books would be all that interesting to me - a 35 year old father of two - but this series really hits home. The concept is surreal and completely believable at the same time. She weaves an incredible storyline into the rich London culture, and she does it flawlessly. The only problem...I'm going to have to wait a while for the third book. (

So yeah, bottom line...this book is awesome.
Fair warning, there will be spoilers for a plot development in this book. I'll clearly mark that section, otherwise here we go I came to this series in an odd manner. I was looking for a different book I'd heard being reviewed on NPR and saw a recommendation for this book on the site. There was no mention of it being Young Adult and specifically because it was an NPR review, it didn't occur to me that it might be. So I purchased the first book, planning to buy this one.

Color me pleasantly surprised there. Yes, it was a Young Adult title, but it was engaging and funny. Rory spent very little time in need of being rescued, and really refreshingly for YA, when she was in trouble, it wasn't some knight in shining armor that came to save her. I eagerly purchased this book, looking forward to a quick, but pleasantly creepy read.

I'm torn here. The antagonist is so thoroughly annoying, and slightly cartoonish (almost literally, the character is described in a manner that sounds like an animated person). Most of the time at Wexford is a bit of a waste of time and I think Johnson makes a mistake in isolating Rory so much from characters that were enjoyable in the first book. Still, it's so fun to see a young woman not wholly defined by an attachment to some brooding boy. Rory is funny, endearing, but clearly traumatized by the events of the first book. It's fitting, but a little plodding. In fairness, it also turns out to be purposeful.

Vague Spoilers for some of the book to follow

The Shades all felt just a bit off to me. The very beginning when it seems that Rory is being relegated back to her life, cut off from them didn't really fit with the events of the first book. Callum in particular takes a turn for the far too angry at the very end, and that is taking into account the emotional stakes. It just didn't feel entirely organic.

After a slow first half, the book becomes a bit too rushed and then ends very abruptly with a plot choice that made me wince.

Specific spoiler to follow

Johnson makes a decision at the very end that feels too abrupt and then simply ends the book too quickly. It's not a satisfying conclusion and it feels very much like a dropped call rather than a full story. It just ends on a rather displeasing note that could have easily been avoided. What I think is that Maureen Johnson truly didn't want Rory being defined by a romantic attachment, and I do applaud that. However, this seemed a cruel way to achieve that when a different choice could have been made with the character of Stephen(such as simply having him be uninterested in Rory romantically). Having made the rather abrupt choice, it would have been nice to get a bit more resolution on that.

End to spoilers.

I'd recommend this book, but truthfully I wouldn't recommend reading it until such time as the third book is released. The ending is that abrupt and rather unwelcome. It took a fun, slightly creepy story in The Name of the Star and bled a lot of the fun out of it in The Madness Underneath. That was before it got to the end, and that didn't improve matters, in my opinion. Read when the next is available, I'd say.
If at any point during the first, say, 3/4 of this book you had asked me what I'd rate it, I'd have said five stars. Hands down. The writing is so smooth. I simply *like* Rory as a character. Love the voice, the fact that she really is an average girl, totally easy to relate to. I was sucked in, reading along, just loving it...until, I realized everything I thought was subtly building up to something was not.

The fact is, nothing really happens until the very end, and then it all happens very quickly and unimpressively. This entire book feels like a bridge. Like, well, time needs to pass so *the big ending twist* can happen, and we can actually move into the real story the author had in mind.

It's hard, too, to write about what frustrates me because it's directly related to the end. It truly could have been just as twisty--and would have had MORE impact, if the whole Jane part of the plot had been left out and things focused on Rory and the Shades. That's all I'll say.

I'll still read the next book, because I have a feeling the author will be tying a lot of the loose strings together and despite it all I just love the author's writing. But for now, I'm frustrated with how this one ended--enough to knock two stars off my rating.