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Shattered Mirror

Shattered Mirror

List Price: $9.95
Your Price: $8.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Much more satisfying
Review: Shattered Mirror is the sequel to two other books by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, In the Forests of the Night and Demon In My View, her first and second published books respectively. This surpases both in length and plot, in my opinion.
While I found Demon in My View more satisfying at the end, Shattered Mirror had many layers that made it superior. For one thing, technique. The story is much more straightforward and in some places more easily understood. This is not to say there were not a few flaws, but every good book must have flaws to make it endearing.
Interesting to note: The first segment of Shattered Mirror brought back feelings of many Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes and fanfiction pieces. It was not a plaguirism, but a borrowing of atmosphere. And the fact that the main character was kicked out of school for damaging school property while slaying, I mean HUNTING, vampires doesn't hurt, either.
One problem with the writing of Amelia is shared with many, including her influence, Anne Rice. The weakness of the third act. Now, while Anne Rice's sometimes can seem lengthy and dysfunctional at moments, Amelia's have each been extremely brief, and leaving questions to be answered. Even through the two sequels, none so far, except in this book the witch Caryn plays a part explaining her circumstances, have answered any. I still wonder for Risika(from ITFotN) what exactly went on with her brother. You would think they would explain in the most closely related book, Demon in My View, what went on. Nothing offered, nothing received. And Jessica and Aubrey? Not even a mention this outing.
Now, none of these are specific critisisms of Shattered Mirror as much as the series as a whole. Only one critisism really holds true to this book, though it is not a fatal flaw. The ending does not satisfy. The "surprise," while it caught me off guard, it probably will not startle many. And I don't find myself any happier for the character. Her views may have changed, but she become no more or less likable. Unfortunate, really, for such a promising outing, to have to mention that. But again, definitely not a horrible problem. This book is definitely worth taking a look at, maybe several, even if you're buying it just for the fact that Amelia is a teen author.

A final note: I'm glad not to have to say negative anything about length. While maybe a page or two could have been added near the ending, this book was a fine length, fully exploring the main points of the story, and not leaving you feeling cheated for length as the previous two may have. I hope with each book the pages become more plentiful, but only if the story calls for it. That will, of course, be for Amelia to decide.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: # 3
Review: i just finished Shattered Mirror. Let me just say WOW! it was awesome, Sarah was one of the best characters ever developed. Sarah and Christopher seems so cute together. it shows a gentleness abt the vampires u dont see in the other books. saying that some choose not to kill. u also learn abt the other lines, something i'm VERY happy to know now. it bothered me that u didnt know a lot abt the vampire lines other than Silver and a little bit of Mira. Christopher, Nissa, Aleksander, and Sarah are awesome characters i hope will show up in other books. Amelia is my Fav. author. and i cant wait for her next book. Aubrey still rocks and we hope for a return.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: My favourite out of them all...
Review: But I think that's only because I wrote a fanfic about it. So I guess I'm liking the book just because what I wrote tied the story up nicely for myself to tolerate.

A lot of the elements in this book were taken from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, one of my favourite shows, so that's probably another reason why I liked it. Regardless of that, however, I can say this was probably one of her best unintentional works. Why unintentional? Because I can't conceive of Amelia actually working up a sweat on making a story believable and likable to anyone but herself.

Sarah Tigress Vida, a vampire hunter witch raised in the black and white society of her people, finds her world beginning to blur over when she finds herself the centre of a vampire's (Christopher) affections. And for whatever reason she meets this vampire at school. Because all 1000+ year old vampires are just dying to see what modern day educational facilities are like, lemme tell you. That part alone is cringe-worthy, but it can be overlooked if you want it to be. So throughout the majority of the book not only is Sarah burdened with not living up the standards of her older sister and mother but she has that nagging vampire Christopher to deal with, who is just too darn sweet despite what she was told about vampires and who she can't seem to get rid of.

I just hate what she does with names in this book. The switch from Christopher and Nicholas to Kristopher and Nikolas is so friggin' ridiculous I almost vomitted. Is the K supposed to symbolise something evil or creepy, Amelia? Because I think it's just lame. Another thing is that she needs to learn that not everyone is beautiful, eyes don't come in the colours she makes them out to be, and every story must have an ending. Even a crappy story. But she doesn't like endings, she just gives up wherever she wants and that's what happens to this story. But even in the linear conclusion one goes away with a feeling of relief. I have no idea how the ending was suitable, maybe she managed to get a stroke of luck when making this book.

I don't know how she managed to pull it off, but by George, Amelia did it. So that's the only reason I'm giving her credit for this book. Two stars for stumbling over something that was worth my ten bucks plus one star for the fanfic I wrote about it. Seriously, other people should consider doing the same thing with her stories if they don't like them so much. It's surprising how satisified you'll feel afterwards.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Exciting with unexpected ending.
Review: What really stuck with me as a message in the book is that it's hard not to judge people and that there are two sides to most people. Sometimes it's easier to think in terms of black and white with the evil villian and the hero. Here the villian turns out to have a sensitive side?

It's a really interesting plot, the way you can't tell who's evil or not. It's a good idea but the ending stumped and kind of upset me.

It's an interesting book but the ending largely upset and creeped me out so I only gave it 3 stars.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: one gigantic symbol - perfect for teens
Review: "What do you mean?" you ask. First off, you can read short descriptions of the book above to find out that the main character is a vampire hunter and such.

I can think of many ways to explain myself, but the best would probably be to say that while reading this book, particularly scenes that occur at bashes (this book's equivalent to a party with drugs and sex), the reader can have a parallel scene playing out in his/her mind of a REAL party in reality. What I am saying is that everything that happens at these bashes relates perfectly to what happens at certain parties in real life.

A second thing is this. As I began chapter 23, I felt like I was reading "Speak" all over again. For those of you who don't know, the main character in Speak is a girl who got raped at a party between 8th grade and the start of her freshman year at high-school and kept it a secret from everyone. That is EXACTLY what happens to Christine/Kristin (they're the same person - read it to find out why the "c"'s turn to "k"'s).

Now, if you're a parent of a teenager, I'd run to a bookstore right away. Still don't get why? Your kid loves to keep secrets from you. (I'm a 17 year old boy myself.) Your kid most likely says all books are stupid for some reason or another, ESPECIALLY ones like Speak (see last paragraph). In other words, the exact kind of books s/he SHOULD be reading are the ones s/he rejects THE MOST. However, Shattered Mirror gives off just as many if not more positive messages for teenagers than books like Speak, Second Helpings, Big Mouth & Ugly Girl - the list goes on. The first 2 or so chapters of Shattered Mirror are nearly pure-horror. They occur at a bash with action right away, similar to the Goosebump books of old. Then, the main character starts school - totally turning the mood of the story into something much more pleasant... for a while.

By now I think you're starting to get the point. BUT, you might be asking "If this book is so good, why doesn't it have a bazillion awards all over the cover and such?" Note that this book is 4 years old and new "classics" don't get written every day. Violence is in this book constantly. The main character purposely wears as many knives as she safely can. But on the other hand, Speak is a great book for teen girls to read... but what if you're about to enter high-school? You'll be scared out of your mind! A 13 year old girl who reads Speak will get so scared of getting raped that she never gets to have any fun in her teenage years. So the 2 pretty much cancel out. And we're back at thinking that Shattered Mirror is an excellent book. Just don't let anyone TOO young read this book, cause all they'll see is the violent part of it and turn into a madman.

Other good messages include "love always triumphs" and "not everything's black and white; many are grey." Any reader who enjoys thinking as s/he's reading will put this book in his/her top 10 by page 80 or so. Speaking of which... a few quick facts about the book: 31 chapters, very large text size, 227 pages (in my version). I flew through it in just over a day, but give most of the credit to the amazing suspense Amelia Atwater-Rhodes gives us.

Highly recommended.

Normally at the end of my reviews, I always say "go check out my other reviews and please say if they were helpful to you or not!" But, this is the only book I've reviewed (so far). Everything else has been music. This is the 41st book I've read since June of 2004 and its the first one I've felt such a need to come here and praise it on amazon. Think about that. (Other books I've read include Fade by Robert Cormier, Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty, and Into Thin Air by Jon Krafauer - didn't review any of them.)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: What I Thought
Review: I thought this book, Shattered Mirror, was a good book with a unpredictable ending. The witch in the book, Sarah Vida, is a vampire hunter. She is trying to find the vampire Nickolas. Everything is fine until she goes to school and ends up befriending two vampires. When her sister finds out about their relationship, Sarah runs into a problem, ruin the relationship with her friends or family.
I liked the book. It kept me guessing and it was never boring. The ending is unexpected and unpredictable. The perfect book!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Shattered Mirror
Review: Shattered Mirror was an awesome book!! It really keeps you interested in it and it lets you use your own creativity. I thought the storyline of this book was interesting!! I really liked learning about the different veiws peopel have on things. Forexample when the vampires thought different from the witches and then the humans were kind of clueless as to what is going on. It was also interesting when in one part of the book there was a group that had all humans, vampires, and withces united together as one! The book really makes you think and it tought me that not all people have the same veiws on life and how it should work! It is a great drama also... I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen to Meilinda when she was out hunting for vampires and then I also was paying attention to the thing going on between her and Christopher!! Overall I would give this book 4 stars and would reccomend it to anyone interested in vampires and fantasy!! It's a great book to read and get into!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: My least favorite of her books
Review: I liked this book, but didn't love it. The plot was decent, not up to her usual standards, and the characters were a little monotone. I liked, however, how she incorperated the characters so that they all linked together in the end. This is a good book, but I liked the others better.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: wow
Review: all i can say is that amelia is the best wrighter in teen sci fi horror romance books. i am not going to say anything about what the plot or the people or witches or vampires are like because i want you to read the book yourself and see how great of a writer she is.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I give it four stakes!
Review: Okay let's get the facts out of the way first. Amelia Atwater-Rhodes wrote her first novel, IN THE FORESTS OF THE NIGHT, when she was 13. DEMON IN MY VIEW was written two years later. SHATTERED MIRROR is the latest novel from the teen Anne Rice. Note: I will not let the fact that she is a highly successful novelist and I am just a shlumpy old loser affect my review in the least.

In SHATTERED MIRROR, Atwater-Rhodes does Buffy one better. The protagonist of the story is Sarah Tigress Vida, is a vampire hunter AND a witch. Double occult whammy! Her whole family are vampire hunters --- have been forever. Sarah is a totally hard-core, tough girl. A loner, she prefers the company of the night stars to actual humans. Sarah is proud to be a Vida witch and loves all the honor that name conveys. She would never consort with the enemy...or would she?

Trouble starts brewing when Sarah meets two charming vampires posing as high school students. Christopher is a "harmless" vampire, living off animal blood or willing human donors. He is artistic, kind and, of course, really cute and Sarah reluctantly begins to find herself crushing on him bad. Christopher returns the feelings by writing her love poetry and giving her sketches he has made.

As we all know, love can be quite confusing. Sarah is thrown completely off, not just by her raging hormones, but also by the fact that the boy she cares for should, technically, be on her "Dead" list. Sarah finds herself questioning her entire life and all the traditions of her family. She can't get her mind around hunting vampires anymore, as her family has sworn to do. Can a vampire hunter and her undead prey learn to love each other?

SHATTERED MIRROR takes a crazy twist just as readers will be hoping for Sarah and Christopher to get together. Turns out Christopher is actually Kristopher, twin brother of one of the most hated and hunted vampires of history, Nikolas. The fiend Nikolas is famous for carving his name into his victims and Sarah wants to be the Vida to take Nikolas down. Will her new feelings for Christopher cause her to change her mind? And will they lead her to a dangerous decision, a decision that would tarnish her family's reputation --- and cost Sarah her mortal soul?

All these questions and more will be answered, promise. Fans of Atwater Rhodes will be pleased to see the return of characters like Caryn Smoke. Fans and non-fans alike will be totally engrossed in this story about the battle between love, evil and tradition. I give it four stakes!

--- Reviewed by Serena Burns





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