November 23, 2014: 'Chasing Shadows'

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Date: November 23, 2014

Spoilers Ahead

Headline

Chasing Shadows

Swati Avasthi and Craig Phillips

Before: Corey, Holly, and Savitri are one unit—fast, strong, inseparable. Together they turn Chicago concrete and asphalt into a freerunner’s jungle gym, ricocheting off walls, scaling buildings, leaping from rooftops to rooftop. 

But acting like a superhero doesn’t make you bulletproof…

After: Holly and Savitri are coming unglued. Holly says she’s chasing Corey’s killer, chasing revenge. Savitri fears Holly’s just running wild—and leaving her behind. Friends should stand by each other in times of crisis. But can you hold on too tight? Too long?

In this intense novel, Swati Avasthi creates a gripping portrait of two girls teetering on the edge of grief and insanity. Two girls who will find out just how many ways there are to lose a friend…and how many ways to be lost.

City Calendar:

This is what happened during the week.

Sav, Corey, and Holly freerun. Corey is shot. Holly and Corey are in the Shadowland. Sav waits for Holly to wake up from her coma. Holly wakes up. Corey's funeral happens, and Holly doesn't go. Holly is released from the hospital. She tries to explain that Kortha was there with Corey in the Shadowlands. Sav goes to school and hangs out with Holly's ex-boyfriend Josh. Holly finally goes to Corey's grave. She sees Kortha. She runs to Josh's house. Holly attempts to hook up with Josh but fails. Sav goes to freerun with Josh and his friends. Holly gets the case file for her brother's death. Holly cuts her hair off after realizing some of her hair was taken by the murderer. Holly sees Kortha and where Corey is. Holly determines that she is going to find Corey's killer. Sav and Josh talk. Sav confronts Holly. Holly goes to fine Wiry the killer. She finds him with Sav's help. Sav and Holly confront Wiry. Kortha appears. Holly goes to the Shadowlands for a bit. Wiry runs away. Sav and Holly get interrogated. Holly tells Sav about her plans to rescue Corey. Holly drugs Sav to go to the Shadowlands. Sav leaves. Both are in the hospital. Holly lets Corey go and wakes up in the psych ward. Sav goes and gets her comic about her namesake. Holly and Sav meet. Sav decides to go to Princeton. Holly stays in the psych ward. Sav finally goes a jump that she hadn't done before.

And that's what happened this week.

Personal Ads:

Holly.

The Leopardess. Free runner. Twin to Corey. Uncontrollable. Insane. Will do anything to be with her brother. Risk taker. Hurts her friend indirectly. Was in coma. Becomes more and more crazy.

Sav.

The Legend. Free runner. Calm. Controlled. Girlfriend to Corey. Hindi. Smart. Offered space at Princeton. Ends up not staying with Holly. Hurt by Holly. 

Opinions:

This book has nice supernatural elements. A new take on life-after-death. We have an empty wasteland and a snake-like man that represents Death. The dead are kept in a cage. And those in coma can be in this place as well. I didn't like that this place wasn't in the story more. I would have liked to see more of Kortha.

I also like how the characters were written. Sure. Holly's crazy, but she had good intentions. Or that's what she thought. And Sav is loyal to a fault. Loyalty is important. You need to be able to trust people. They have their faults. Holly is too focused on saving Corey. Sav can't tell Holly she is spiraling out of control. They compliment each other. 

I also like the graphics. They're well drawn. They portray the story in a different way. The problem is that there didn't seem to be enough of these beautiful graphics. I wanted more. I wanted to see the Shadowlands. I wanted to see Sav and Corey and Josh and Holly. I saw them, but I wanted to see free running in action. I wanted to see how they did it.

The bad thing was that the story seemed dull. There wasn't much action. I wanted more free running. I also would have liked more action. There were high tension scenes. But a lot more drama compared to fighting scenes. The fighting scenes would have been nice.

Weather:

Mildly cloudy with a 75% chance of rain

3.5/5