Stir of Shadows

Stir of Shadows, a fantasy novel for middle-grade readers, is the sixth installment in “The Legend of Rhyme” series. The story follows many mystical characters throughout the lands of Coraira, Cymbria, Rhyme and the Sea Realm. This installment’s overall plot examines a prophecy from long ago and the moments leading up to its fruition.

Being that this is the sixth novel, readers would find themselves unfamiliar with the characters in the novel without having read the earlier books. As someone who hasn’t read the other novels, I found it hard to establish grounding early on in the novel as the characters are not fully introduced, nor are their full backstories given. I imagine this was done in earlier novels.

Further to this, there is a large cast of characters (upwards of twenty). The multitude of characters had me rereading sections and backtracking in order to remind myself of each storyline. This being said, a reader who follows from the beginning of the series may not encounter these issues. Still, Mann seems to recognize the need for grounding, and so she has included rhyming verse before each chapter in an attempt to help remind readers of where the upcoming story line left off and where each of the characters finds themselves. This does help to keep plot lines straight and to preface each chapter with what’s to come. In addition, she has included a glossary in the book to help with various names and places; however, this glossary does give spoilers to the plot of this installment, something which seems counterintuitive.

The plot pacing is fast, as many children’s novels are; however, it is difficult to determine if the fast pace is due to Stir of Shadows’s being well into the series. Most of the novel is made up of description and internal thought. There is little dialogue from characters, and the small amount reads as very basic, making it easy to understand for young readers. The magical elements, such as mermaids, phoenix feathers, giants, pixies, witches, are all on point for the fantasy genre and open many doors for the imagination of this targeted readership.