Shadows In The Silence by Courtney Allison Moulton

Reading Level: Ages 14 and up
Hardcover: 469 Pages
Release Date: January 29, 2013
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Narration: First Person: Ellie
Genre: Paranormal/Angels
Challenge: Paranormal Reading Challenge

Angelfire Series:
Book One: Angelfire
Book Two: Wings of the Wicked
Book Three: Shadows In the Silence

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Author's
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Goodreads Synopsis:

Your strength in heart and hand will fall. . . .
Ellie knows that the darkest moments are still to come, and she has everything to fight for:

She must fight for Will.
The demonic have resorted to their cruelest weapons to put Will in mortal danger, and Ellie makes an unlikely alliance to save him and to stop Lilith and Sammael, who seek to drown the world in blood and tear a hole into Heaven.

She must fight for humanity.
As the armies of Hell rise and gather for the looming End of Days, Ellie and her band of allies travel to the world’s darkest and most ancient regions in her quest to come into her full glory as the archangel Gabriel.

And Ellie must save herself.
Her humanity withers beneath the weight of her cold archangel power, but Ellie must hold tight to who she is and who she loves as she prepares for the ultimate battle for Heaven and Earth.

In this final installment in the Angelfire trilogy, Courtney Allison Moulton brings her dark world of epic battles and blistering romance to a blazing bright conclusion.

My Review:

I was beyond excited when I received a copy of Shadows In The Silence! My fingers have been itching to get a hold of this book for what has seemed like forever. And when my greedy fingers finally got what they desired, I felt a pang of both giddy joy and a overwhelming sadness when I realized that this was the final ending to an explosive, mind blowing trilogy. It seems like just yesterday I cracked open Angelfire, unsure of what I was going to find on the other side.

Ellie, although still as brave and sacrificing as ever, didn't move me or bring me to tears as she did in the first two novels. I don't feel like she's grown in character throughout this whole series. Yeah, so she isn't as squealey about proms and buying shoes as she used to be. So what? There is a fine line between courage and stupidity, and she crossed it more than once. Alright, stupidity is a little too harsh a word. Let's just say, for all intents and purposes, that she was rash in her decision making skills. Since spoilers are a huge no no for me, and I try my best not to reveal anything even accidentally, I'll keep my lips sealed. xD

Even though I wasn't a huge fan of Ellie's character this time around, she still retains many of her redeeming qualities from prior novels. Despite the fact that Ellie's cold, unfeeling archangel side is trying to take over, she is still as compassionate as ever, maybe even more so! She was willing to give up her life in order to save all of mankind, all of humanity, which is a super admirable characteristic in a protagonist. However, I felt like Courtney was trying too hard to push us to remember this fact by stating it over and over again. We all remember Ellie to be the girl to always fight for a worthy cause, no matter how impossible it may seem to others, and finally achieve it in the end. But in Shadows in the Silence, Ellie just gave up. Although she was against the idea of dying, she never fought for a way out or desperately searched for any kind of loophole. She accepted the fact that she was destined to die and that was the end of it.

The romance was sweet, but I wasn't feeling the sparks! At least not like I used to. :( Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed reading about it, and was very relieved by the fact that her love for Will didn't change the core of her being. She wasn't a lovey dovey girl who followed her boyfriend around like a sad, whimpering puppy begging for attention. Thank God! The only part when I really really felt the romance aspect of their relationship was near the end when that.....thing..happened. You'll see what I mean. xD

The writing! Agh! I don't know if it's just me, but I felt like this novel was surprisingly lacking in this department. I'm not sure if it's because of the absurd amount of reading I've done between this year and the past which maybe somehow changed my views on writing styles or if it was just the novel itself. The sentence structure felt abrupt and choppy. Because of this, I was unable to become fully immersed into the awesome world Courtney created. I had to actually put the book down or reread a whole paragraph either because I couldn't understand what she was trying to imply or just because I couldn't get into my reading zone.

I loved the different events and revelations that transpired during Shadows In The Silence. The interesting new take on biblical events and intriguing background information made the story feel real. However, I was not too happy with the execution of these events. It seemed to me, that every single mini journey Ellie and Will embarked on ended waaay too easily. I was literally staring at the page, thinking to myself, "That's it? No scandalous betrayals, cleverly hidden loopholes, or startlingly revealed secrets? Nada?" I wasn't surprised by how the book ended, nor was I shocked by any of the events that occurred. It was all very meh. Buuuuuuut! I did enjoy that final battle scene near the end of the book, even if it was predictable.

Overall, I was not satisfied with the finale to this otherwise brilliant angelic series. I loved the background information and the phenomenal story Courtney weaved, but the writing style was bland and abrupt, which sadly ruined my overall enjoyment of the story as a whole. I don't regret reading it, but I won't be picking it up anytime in the nearby future.

Heroine- 3/5
Romance- 3/5
Action- 4/5
Comedy- 2/5
Writing- 1/5
Overall- 3/5

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