Review: A time-travelling, Christian fiction novel
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 17, 2013
3.5 starsThis was a neat book!  I am a sucker for time travel novels, especially when characters are transported back in time.  Historical fiction is my favorite genre, and given that Rising Shadows is historical Christian fiction, I was really in for a treat.Sarah is just your typical girl, getting ready to start college.  One day, during a thunderstorm, she and her younger sister Lilly are transported to the twelfth century.  Upon their arrival, they meet Karen, a college student who is also from the future.  Karen is in the twelfth century with her adoptive father, who is a professor and coincidentally developed the time machine, which is really more of a neat time-travel set of watches.  Karen and the professor ended up in the twelfth century by mistake, but while there, discovered a plot against the king and are working to bring the king's brother to justice, and therefore save the king's life.There were a lot of things I liked about Rising Shadows. I liked Sarah and her levelheadedness.  I liked her approach to problems, and her loyalty to others.  I especially liked her faith in God, and how she turned to Him in times of trouble.  I liked Karen as well.  She was unpredictable (something I love in a character) and a great friend to Sarah.  Will was a mystery for much of the book but I grew to really like him too.  The minor characters were well fleshed-out and added a lot of depth to the story.  There were several surprises along the way, which I loved.  My favorite parts of Rising Shadows were the historical element and the Christian element, both of which were very well-handled.I had a couple of problems with Rising Shadows.  The first was that there were some predictable parts to the book.  I knew who The Shadow was long before Sarah did.  My second problem was that the ending was choppy.  I hated Sarah's decision at the end of the book, then all of a sudden, the book was over.  I kept clicking the 'next page' button on my Nook in vain, hoping for more, not wanting to believe that Townsend could leave me with such a cliff-hanger!  I like being in suspense for the next novel, but leaving things so open between books always leaves me feeling frustrated.  For sure, it's a fine line between an ending that leaves you wanting to read the next book and a chopped-off ending with series novels, and it's something that I think is very hard to get right.  Rising Shadows is the first in a trilogy, so hopefully book two will answer the many questions I have after reading book one.Overall, I enjoyed Rising Shadows.  I plan to keep reading the series, and look forward to more from Ashley Townsend.