Shadowmancer?

[Ali]

Penny wrote:-
 
>>> This week's "Newsweek" has a blurb titled "Hotter than Potter," 
which caught my eye.  It's touting a children's fantasy story 
called "Shadowmancer" by Anglican Vicar G. P. Taylor, and it 
supposedly outsold OoP in the UK for several weeks last summer.  
Taylor apparently got $550,000 for the US publishing rights, and 
there's a sequel due out in June.>>>

Ali replies:

I bought and read Shadowmancer a few months ago. From memory, it was 
a book which I just picked up and read into the small hours until I 
had finished. For me, it lost it a little towards the end, but I was 
still sad when I had finished it.

It is another classic tale of good v. evil. Although I enjoyed 
Shadowmancer at the time, I've remembered very little about it. It's 
definitely worth a read, and for me, now you've mentioned it again, 
a re-read.

In terms of "Hotter than Potter", for me, no it wasn't. It is a good 
book, and I did care about some of the characters. But the HP books 
have felt very special, in a way that Shadowmancer just didn't. 
Shadowmancer didn't play on my mind and demand several dozen re-
reads, and analysing and reanalysing details. It wouldn't get me to 
join chat groups on the net, or go into London and meet strangers. I 
certainly can't imagine wanting to organise a conference in its 
honour. That is special to Harry Potter.

Ali