Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jul 2019
480 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
From debut author Katharyn Blair comes a heart-stopping fantasy novel, perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare and The Young Elites, about a teenage runaway who enters a dangerous tournament with an impossible prize.
Vesper Montgomery can summon your worst fear and turn it into a reality—but she's learned the hard way that it's an addicting and dangerous power. One wrong move and you could hurt someone you love.
But when she earns a spot in the Tournament of the Unraveling, where competitors battle it out for a chance to rewrite the past, Vesper finally has a shot to reverse the mistakes that have changed her forever.
She turns to Sam Hardy, a former MMA fighter who's also carrying a tragedy he desperately wants to undo. However, helping heal Sam's heart will mean breaking her own, and the competition forces her to master her powers—powers she has been terrified of since they destroyed her life.
"Interweaving excellent worldbuilding with the uncertainties of discipline, friendship, and taking ownership of one's decisions, Blair's debut will entrance and delight in equal measure." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"An extraordinary debut packed with richly drawn characters in a sure-to-entertain storyline." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"This story of magic, hope, death, friendship, and family...offer[s] a taste of the mystical, a great voice and dialogue, and well-written questions that address teen angst." - School Library Journal
"The Beckoning Shadow is a fast-paced, exciting debut with an awesome girl protagonist! I rooted for Vesper as she smashed her way through this vividly imagined story, and was left hoping for more!" - S.J. Kincaid, New York Times bestselling author of The Diabolic
"An absolutely riveting, supercharged story set against a world of secretive and thoroughly badass magic-wielders. I adored Vesper for her toughness and vulnerable heart—I dare you not to fall for her, too." - Lana Popoviç, author of Fierce like a Firestorm
This information about The Beckoning Shadow was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Katharyn Blair is a novelist and screenwriter. She graduated with her MFA in 2015 and is finishing her MA in literature. She's been a social media coordinator for several films at 20th Century Fox, an intern at her city's Parks and Recreation Department, a gymnastics coach, and, most recently, a writing professor at Azusa Pacific University. She lives outside of Los Angeles with her family. The Beckoning Shadow is her debut novel.
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