*I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review
Sixteen-year-old Marci Guerrero is one of the best teen hackers in Seattle. However, she’d give up all her talents to know she isn’t crazy.
Marci feels possessed by what she perceives as shadowy spectres that take control of her body and make her do crazy things. While spying on the clandestine group known as IgNiTe, she’s confronted by the leader, James McCray. His presence stirs the spectres inside her brain into a maddening frenzy. Her symptoms and ability to control them don’t go unnoticed by James, who soon recruits her and shows her the awful truth.
Half of the world’s population is infected by sentient parasites. They bind themselves to the human brain and replace the pathways for all thoughts and actions. The creatures then morph their hosts into grotesque monsters with extraordinary strengths. Winged, clawed, fanged half-humans become living nightmares. Now Marci wishes she was crazy, because the truth is worse.
She’s infected.
The premise behind Ignite the Shadows is very creepy. I mean, a parasitic race of sentient beings (Eklyptors) that managed to systematically work its way into controlling half the human population, without the rest of us knowing? Anyone could be one and you’d never know. Scary, right? Marci has always known there was something different about her. She’s been battling the shadows in her mind since she was 5 years old, never knowing what they were or if she’d finally succumb to them. When she meets James and the group Ignite the shadows, they finally *shed light* on what’s been plaguing her, and the world, and their fight to bring the Eklyptors down.
I’m a fan of sci-fi/fantasy and the whole concept of Eklyptors really intrigued me. They creeped me out, but intrigued me all the same. Seymour has quite a way of writing scenes that can make my skin crawl! The story is fast paced and full of action, as well as normal teenage life for Marci, well as normal as you can get for a hacker genius whose father is dead, mother is mentally checked out, and twin brother was kidnapped 30 seconds after birth.
I thought the novel was very good but I did have some problems with story. For one, there were several plot lines started and minimally explored. For example, the story line with Marci’s twin brother was really intriguing to me and seemed like it should have played a much bigger part in the book, but only had a minimal part in the story. I have a feeling we’ll see a lot more of him in book two, but I feel as a reader we could have benefitted from more of him in this one as well.
Marci was a strong character and I liked that she wasn’t just ready to take whatever crap this group, or anyone for that matter, was feeding her. She knew they weren’t giving her all the information (which, why weren’t they giving her all the information?), and she was going to protect herself. Of the several side characters, I liked James the most. While I don’t understand why he hid so much from Marci when he wanted, and needed her help, he seems like a good guy that wants to right by the world. I think we’ll find out more about him and why in book two also.
Overall, I give Ignite the Shadows 3.5 out of 5 stars. It’s a great starting point for a series and has excellent potential to grow!
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