Talk us through it
Cassandra has been a Shade since 1863 and has used her time productively dancing and living the high life. That's about to change when a strange wind brings destruction to the city she lives in via the coast leading up to it. The wind is clearly blowing in from Tenebran and might or might have resulted from Nathan's defeat of the savant Acheron, see Shades 01: Shadow Dance for more details. With the death toll rising and the fabric of space and time threatening to come unglued Cassandra will be dragged kicking and screaming into the conflict between the dark and the light. Our heroine, with help from Nathan and Shine, will have to face her darkest nightmare and revisit her "death" at the hands of her father. But just who is the secret society that seems to have a working knowledge of Shades, and what exactly do they want with Cassandra and her friends? Ready to slip on a party frock and dance the light fantastic?
Review"Was this a conspiracy to get me up to date on current affairs?" - Cassandra With Night Beast Robert Hood continues his young adult series of Shades books, this time with some marked differences from the previous book, Shadow Dance. We're talking the same easy reading style and prose aimed at the younger reader however Hood switches his focus from Nathan Maple, the narrator of the previous book, to Cassandra's viewpoint and presents us with a Tenebran that might be coming apart at the seams but still has formidable powers that wont be easy for the Shades to deal with. We quickly learn that Nathan isn't the only Shade with a power the others don't possess. Robert Hood's major change between books is of course going from a male character's perspective to a female one. The Author doesn't put a step wrong in the transition, once again showing his versatility and strength as a writer, and for this reader at least presented a strong, sometimes wilful, female central character that was absolutely plausible. What's even more impressive is that the Author develops his character throughout the book, none of the major characters are written as static cardboard cut-outs, and she is a much better "ghost chick" for her experiences as page last sails into view. Hey that's not a spoiler, this is young adult fiction people, you want to give developing minds bad thoughts! I actually had a crypt keeper cackle as I wrote that, not a good sound. Slight detour here before we continue, bare with me. Anne Rivers Siddons wrote an excellent novel, and the only writing of hers I have ever read to be honest, called The House Next Door (1978). In amongst the ghastly occurrences, well to Southern Yank perceptions anyways, we learn the narrator thinks she looks very good in her new blue jeans. Strangely Stephen King picked up on this in his seminal book on the horror genre Danse Macabre and remarked that if Siddon's novel had of been written at a later time the narrator would have probably thought she looked good in her Calvin Klein blue jeans. Hold onto your linen there Mr King, Cassandra is well impressed with how she looks in a Calvin Klein t-shirt, Armani jeans, and Reebok joggers. Did Robert Hood just out brand name Stephen King himself! Not sure this has any relevance to the review, but hey at least you now know I read something other than Down Under horror writers on occasion. I clearly also read Yank and Brit horror writers. Okay it's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll, back to the review. Robert Hood shows Cassandra's growth, I keep wanting to say "as a person", with a subtle touch through out Night Beast. Having been dragged into the Shade confrontation with what ever the hell is coming out of Tenebran, the Shadowedge is raging for starters, Cassandra gradually grows to realise what they are facing and her place in the scheme of things. Nice use of flashback by Hood with two thumbs up for the descriptive passages giving us Cassandra's human background. The Author just keeps on respecting his audience with an eye on the minor details to the fore. There's a nice wrap at the end of the book when Cassandra leans in to allow Mr Santos to finally touch her cheek. Previously, and from Cassandra's viewpoint, Mr Santos had been something of a dirty old man however is Robert Hood conveying more of a paternal concern from the character here? The Author isn't saying, and it might be something more along the lines of hanging with the familiar after traumatic events, make your own mind up. In comparison to Shadow Dance Night Beast dispenses with the fantasy elements, Nathan's journey to his own powers, and moves firmly into the darker woods of out and out horror. Besides the chilling idea of people's shadows turning on them and ripping them to pieces, there's the "Night Beast" itself (and that's one hell of a creation in it's own right), descriptions that edge right into the charnel house, and the feeling at any moment that the gates of hell aren't going to be just prised apart but are going to be ripped off their hinges. One wonders where the plot arcs will take us in the final two books, judging from Night Beast it's going to be a ripper of a ride. Keep in mind that the Shades series is firmly geared to a young adult audience, and Robert Hood is restricted in just how down and dirty he can get by his target demographics. A number of studies have pointed to the rise of what the yanks call "urban horror", what I would call quiet horror, i.e. books that take the trappings of horror to wrap half arsed gothic romances in. The trend seems to be spear headed by the excruciatingly awful Stephenie Meyer who can't seem to string a paragraph together without resorting to her thesaurus. "Gah I gasped" indeed. Robert Hood was visiting this territory well before Meyer pissed all over it, he adds a slight hint of romance in the relationship between Cassandra and Nathan. Clearly Cassandra is attracted to Nathan, but Hood studiously avoids any comment in the other direction. For the romantically inclined amongst us, that's one plot element to keep an eye on. In case you are wondering no Hood does not include vampires that sparkle in sunlight and who play baseball during thunder storms. He does push more horror elements into this one volume than Meyer can get to over the course of four long winded naval gazing excuses for making money from the gullible however. The overriding impression I took from Night Beast was that while the book is the second in a series it can be read as a stand alone. Robert Hood provides enough coverage to not lose anyone on the way to the conclusion, but of course you are going to be more fully informed if you are reading the series in sequence. Once again the writing style is superb and the Author does not talk down to his audience. Night Beast is available from the online Australian Bookshop place as are all the Shades books. I went to the source and scored an autographed copy, thank you Mr Hood much appreciated.
NewsflashBit of an exclusive here, a fifth Shades novel might be coming our way with the viewpoint once again being from the feisty Cassandra. Tentative title is Cassandra Made of Night, great pun in the title, and having read the fist chapter I'm more than <
ScaryMinds Rates this read as ... If you enjoyed Shadow Dance, and who didn't, then you are going to be all over Night
Beast. Has horror found it's answer to Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series?
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