#Review - The Beckoning Shadow by Katharyn Blair #YALIT #Fantasy

Series: Standalone
Format: E-Galley, 480 pages
Release Date: July 2, 2019
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy

The Magicians meets Fight Club in this heart-stopping contemporary fantasy stand-alone about a teen girl with special powers who seeks redemption through a dangerous tournament that guarantees the winner a chance to undo the past. Perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare and The Young Elites, and written by debut author Katharyn Blair.

 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.

 

The Beckoning Shadow is Katharyn Blair's debut novel. And, even though Goodreads claims this is part of a series, it's not. With the story tied up neatly in one book, readers with series fatigue will be hyped for a one-and-done read. 17-year old Vesper Montgomery has been on the run for 2 years since an incident that happened to her family still weights heavily on everything she does. Since the resurgence of powers in the world, there are those called Oddities. Vesper is one of those Oddities. She can literally summon your worst fears and turn it into reality. 

The only problem is she isn't able to control it and it’s extremely dangerous. Fearing discovery from the Wardens, who haven't been seen in 2 years, but are still treated as the boogeymen there are, Vesper lives on the fringe of society, getting by on the streets and drifting from city to city. Her rules are simple - don't trust anyone, don't get too close to anyone, and do not attract the attention of Wardens -- oddities who strive to protect baselines a.k.a humans without magic from any dangerous oddity.

Upon arriving in San Francisco, however, things change. Vesper meets Aldrick, Theo, Sapphira, and Sam who is not only looking for redemption, but offers to sponsor Vesper into the Tournament of the Unwinding; an underground fighting tournament where Oddities can unleash their full potential against one another in the caged ring. The prize? One million dollars. Vesper's one chance to undo the mistakes that plague her is by entering the tournament. Now with something (and someone) to fight for, Vesper must learn to harness her powers or else risk losing it all.

The prize could take away her powers and undo all her mistakes, but she finds that sometimes the devil you know is better than the one you don't. The "fight club" aspects of this story isn't an original one even when the original book came out, so the idea of fighting to win your life back wasn't ground breaking. Vesper, Sam, Sapphira, and the rest of the cast of characters were truly broken and seeking something that can cast the darkness out of their lives. 

It is fair to compare this story with X-Men with different magical powers. The idea that characters could suddenly find themselves with special powers and having a variety of powers to those oddities really kept reminding me of The Gifted as well. There is a whole lot to like with this debut novel. Vesper is snarky, but compelling enough to allow the reader to enjoy the story without too many off cut comments or complaints.

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