Shade's Children

Sci Fi, Young Adults, Dystopia, AI, the lot

Excellent pot boiler! Taut writing by Garth Nix and colourful characters mean that this book is a hit.

In a futuristic dystopian world, a reality altering event means all the adults are gone and kids brains are being farmed by the "Overlords" in a sick game. Our heroes go about trying to fight the overlords with the help of AI.

Overall, I was totally hooked and enjoyed it. My only minor problem was with the storyline vaguely being similar to movies from the 60s, but you hardly notice it. The characters get you hooked as you move from scene to scene. The scenes are interrupted by "audio" excerpts from the characters in different scenes - just to provide an interlude. It makes for a great effect as it is not so commonly used, even though its a well known method.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Hard to fully enjoy

The narrator of this book has a cadence to his reading that is distracting. I hung on just to find out what happened but I couldn’t really fully enjoy the story because of the distracting rhythm of his reading.
The story was pretty good. But I’m coming from Tim Curry reading Sabriel and nothing beats that!

Good One

I felt the story could have had more to follow. The narrator was a good choice but a little more effort on the characterization would have made it great.

Blast from the past

One of the first books I read as a teenager. Garth Nix is still one of my favorite authors now I own the audio and a hard cover. people complain about Charles Carroll but I had no problems with his performance.

First book

This was the first book I ever read. Was happy to hear it in Audible

Wish the narrator was Australian

As the author is and the story isn't set in North America (dialogue clues). However, that said, the narrator is competent enough though he sounds as though he's reading to children. The story however, is fantastic and moving I highly recommend it. It's a unique dystopian vision of a world populated by children used as fodder for an invasive force bent on processing the children into creatures used as pawns in a literal battle to the death 'game'.

2 of 4 people found this review helpful

Disappointing

Shade's Children has an interesting premise - dystopian Earth dominated by other world beings, all adults are gone, and the children are rounded up and cultivated for parts to create more evil beings. Into the mix, Nix introduces a human personality housed in a computer that becomes the leader of the few children who have escaped the clutches of the Overlords. Nothing entirely new, but certainly enough promise to deliver a cracker-jack YA sci-fi. But Shade's Children fails in the execution. The human children protagonists are sympathetic but not fleshed out enough to really invest a lot of emotion in them. Only Ninde was portrayed with enough distinct personality to make me care a little. There is virtually no explanation for how the Overlords came to seize control of the planet and since the story takes place in one city, it is hard to understand how our "heroes" will throw off the domination of a whole planet from one isolated location. The plot is predictable and not engrossing enough to make the listener suspend disbelief and the ending is rushed and rather a let down. In addition, Charles Carroll does not add much in the narration. His delivery is rather slow and although he does a computer voice rather well, he doesn't lend much to the characters in voicing the human or alien dialog. I know the author of the wonderful Abhorsen series can do better than Shade's Children.

2 of 4 people found this review helpful

Amazing book.

Garth Nix has always captivated me through his dark worlds. I recommend the abhorsen series as well.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

This narrator is not worth the time or money

He speaks clearly enough, but he's no actor. The voices are all similar. There's never a tone of urgency during battle or joy in victory. It was hard to get a sense for what's happening because of how dry his tone remained throughout.

I've read this book many times & the story is solid. I highly recommend reading it yourself instead of listening to this guy drone on.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Love this book but not the narrator!

Would you consider the audio edition of Shade's Children to be better than the print version?

No, the narrator sounded rather robotic, and didn't have very good delivery.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Shade's Children?

The whole thing! Shade's Children is incredibly evocative and beautiful, despite being very dark. The concepts, story, and characters are all so vibrant and well-written.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Charles Carroll?

I wouldn't be keen to, no.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I would like to read it all in one sitting, but maybe not listen to the recorded version!

0 of 1 people found this review helpful