There are lots of books about fighting mythical monsters, but I still think this suspenseful adventure is one to remember.

So good. I always enjoy middle-grade books that actually go all out and this one gave some pretty strong characters that made an absolute perfect squad. Full review to come soon!

With a slight gamer flair, this is a quick adventure with interesting creatures, forming friendships, and more than a little action.

Nora's father died when attacked by a terrible beast, and Umbrae, and when she almost losses her mother in a similar attack, she realizes that she can and should do something to stop the beasts. While adults die from a single bite of these monsters, Nora and other children are immune. Despite her father's wish for Nora never to become one of the knights, she contacts the government and soon finds herself heading off to training. Nora has a talent for fighting the beasts and is quickly placed on a team and given a mission. But as she heads out to fight the beasts, secrets begin to emerge, which places more than a few things in a new and concerning direction.

Nora is an energetic and kind character, who cares quite a bit for her family, friends and team. Despite her fighting talent, she never comes across as arrogant or overly tough, and works very well with her team. But then, the relationship with the various members is positive and supporting as well. Her team members are there for each other and do what they can for one another. Even many of the adults offer their support and encouragement. So, there's a very positive atmosphere, in general, which is good because the plot itself has darker tones.

This read takes a rougher twist offering tenser moments and harsher fight scenes. The creatures are dangerous and the attacks brutal. So, while this maybe isn't for overly sensitive readers, it's nothing beyond the middle grade range, either. The tension stays high, but there's still a nice balance between action and slower moments.

At the beginning of each chapter, there's a cube with sayings, information, or thoughts which added a nice touch. The writing itself flows well and keeps the pacing high. There is, however, a little missing in the descriptions and background information, which made the world and setting a little unclear, at times. I hope that some of this will be explained and deepened in an upcoming book...which I'm saying, although I'm not sure there will be more or not and can only hope that more adventures are to come, since this would make a nice series.
I received an ARC and found it to be a gripping read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this wonderful middle grade story!

In Brannland, terrible creatures come out at night. They maul adults, but hesitate momentarily in front of children, giving them a chance to kill them. Young children train for years to become knights and destroy them. Nora has had no training, but decides to become a knight due to her high aptitude. However, she learns that being a knight if different than what she expected.

I really loved reading this book! It’s filled with twists and turns, unique ideas, and some surprisingly dark reveals that kept me reading. I loved the relationship between Nora and the rest of her knights. I was surprised on where she was assigned and was very interested in how the relationships grew. I was especially invested in the fatherly relationship Murdo had with the rest of the knights… I love seeing a positive adult presence in MG lit, and I don’t see it nearly often enough!

I think this is a book young readers are going to love. The fighting, the secrets, the characters, and more all come together in a very charming way. And, while I was not personally in love with the video game aspect, I think readers will enjoy the breaks of online chatting between the chapters of drama. Overall, I highly recommend this book—one of my 2022 favorites!

Review: I loved this MG read! The world that Diane Magras created was so interesting, and I thought the monsters were terrifying. All of the characters were absolutely wonderful, from Nora, to her team members, to the other supporting characters, I thought they were all very well written. And while this is a standalone, that does have a satisfying conclusion, I truly think there are many more stories to tell with the characters in this world, and I hope we get more books! Overall, I would definitely recommend this book! And for full disclosure, I am a part of the street team for this book, but even if I wasn't, I know I would feel the exact same about it!

I received an e-ARC from the author and publisher.

Nora is such a cool character. I loved her compassion and the way she continues to ask questions rather than just accepting the way things are. I loved the journey in the way she relates to her teammates and builds relationships with them.

The story sometimes required a greater willing suspension of disbelief from me. I remember one moment where the team is in a car and someone uses a sword to cut someone’s shirt open. It seemed like in close quarters like that, a sword would be really difficult to use. I also thought it was kind of weird that no one put Nora through some basic combat training at any point. It was basically like, “Okay, you have natural talent, so you’re good. Ready to go fight monsters?!”

Despite those things, I found myself pretty carried away with the story. I loved watching Nora get to know her teammates and build relationships with them. I think readers who enjoyed THE FIREBIRD SONG by Arnée Flores will love this one.

So, I found this book was "good enough". It was not at all what I was expecting from the synopsis (wasn't expecting all the tech, was thinking it would be more classical fantasy style) and that's fine. What really bugged me was that the story seemed rushed. It was jammed packed with adventure, fighting all the good things but it severely lacked it world building and history telling. The character development was completely unrealistic and the messaging aspect between the two friends was unnecessary. I just wanted more from it. I understand that this is a middle grade novel but I just feel like it could have benefitted from information and better character development.

It’s hard for me to read on my phone since the font of the NetGalley Shelf is tiny, but this book is so wonderful that I’ve read non-stop for hours… until 2 am! This action-packed novel starts with an inciting incident – an encounter with a shadow beast – and the plot was so interesting that I couldn’t put my phone down.

Diverse and relatable characters, action-packed plot, wonderful worldbuilding, creepy monsters, knights, secrets, found family, diversity… and supportive adults. Actually, that’s one of my favourite things about this book. In the majority of the middle-grade fantasy novels, the adults are either evil, silly, incompetent or simply absent. In this book, children are very capable and independent. They fight creepy beasts at night! However, the adults do their best to support them. For example, they feed them, clean their rooms and do laundry. They appreciate them, and that’s very important, in my opinion. Because even strong children need help.

It’s a pandemic-written book, and I love the fact that it addresses the topic of emotional survival in periods of immense stress. Not many middle-grade novels do that.

(Oh, and the knights love reading! That’s what helps them to relax, and I LOVE it.)

Now, let’s talk about the plot. This book is about creepy shadow beasts that lurk outside between gloaming and dawn. They can transform into a shadow so quickly that adults can’t fight them – they get killed too fast. But for some reason, these beasts always pause before children and don’t take their shadow form before them, as if they don’t want to hurt the young. Therefore, only children can fight them. All seven-year-olds get vaccinations to see if their bodies could fight the beasts’ venom. If they don’t have the immunity, they receive a second shot with the antidote. If they have the immunity, they are sent to train and at age twelve, they finish training and become knights. The immunity fades either when children turn eighteen or after a certain number of bites.

Nora is immune. She got tested when she was seven. She wanted to become a knight, but her father didn’t let her because it’s too dangerous. Besides, he didn’t want her to give up her childhood. She is twelve now and the Order needs her. It’s time for her to join the battle… but can she do it without any training? Is natural ability and immunity enough to survive?

P.S. – The comp is a bit misleading. This book isn’t similar to the Dragon Pearl at all. Plus, there were several typos.

Terrific, gripping, sensitively written book. I read it aloud to my 10-year-old, who groaned every night when we had to stop. This book deserves a sequel!

Secret of the Shadow Beasts is a dark fantasy for the upper middle grades. While it isn't YA, it is more mature than other middle grade books due to its violence and darker themes. For upper middle grade readers who are ready for books with more sinister plots, or young adult readers still interested in middle grade books but wanting a plot that's more intense, this story is a great transition. The main character, Nora, lives in a world made of familiar items such as school friendships and video games, yet Brannland is also a world in which monsters called Umbrae come out after dusk ("gloaming") and only certain children are the ones able to fight them. Nora shows the aptitude sought after by those who train these children to fight, but her parents, especially her father, refuse to let her be taken to Noye's Hill for this training. Noye's Hill resembles a boarding school, but when children go there to train, they are not allowed to return to their homes and families. Taken at a young age to be trained, students need several years to develop the reflexes and skills necessary to kill Umbrae. Nora eventually makes the decision herself to contact officials to undergo training when she witnesses her mother almost dying at the hands of the Umbrae. When Nora is the one to save her, she decides she needs to help protect others by learning to fight these creatures, even if it means going against her late father's wishes. The Umbrae are multiplying at an alarming rate, and Nora isn't given the luxury of years of training before she is thrown onto a team ready to go and do battle. This is an intense book that will have readers absorbed and fascinated. It's a well-told story that wraps up nicely at the end, though Magras could pull off a second book if she decides to. I appreciated that Nora isn't perfect, either. For all of her natural skill, she still struggles and has to gain self-confidence and the ability to rely on her teammates. Readers will need to infer on occasion as some of the vocabulary and setting will be unfamiliar to them, yet the story is engaging enough that they should find themselves turning pages to see how events resolve. This is one I will definitely be ordering for my students! Thank you to NetGalley and Dial Books for the chance to read this eGalley!

A fast-moving story of friendship and survival. Creatures come out at night and attack people. For some reason, they take it easy on children. Child knights protect the town and try to eliminate the creatures. While this is happening you get to know a group of kids that quickly become family and will do anything to protect each other. Their friendship is a rare gift that you find yourself longing for. The main character is a girl who is a great fighter with little real-life training like the rest of the knights. She says she has learned all her fighting moves from playing a video game. There is something for everyone in this book.

The terrific cover and title does not disappoint. This is a creature story that did remind me a little of Lockwood and Co. and was suggested by, I think, Goodreads because the creatures terrorize adults but have weaknesses that can only be exploited by children. Also, each of these series have their own world building, character backstories, and feature the importance of working together in defeating enemies.
What shines through in the first of this series is how well characters are being developed, and how the Order of the Hawks, a group of modern knights who take on creatures after the gloaming begins, support each other so well. In fictional Brannland, hideous beasts that resemble giant wolves, and spiders among other terrors, can produce enough venom to kill full grown adults, but some children have immunity and are trained to fight them. Nora, seems to be different from the other children, and her initial "duties" are filled with more battles and creatures than even the high performing Hawks are used to. She also seems to be at the center of a secret that helps to explain why the problem has been getting worse.
There are lots of great details about how this organization of knights is run, how society views them, and how the pressure to train and perform drains on them. Hopefully, this is just the start of a really great series.

Secret of the Shadow Beasts delivers all the action, intrigue, and twists! When Nora joins young knights bent on destroying umbrae threatening the area, she discovers aptitude, team, and long-buried secrets. Vivid, pulsing with energy, and incredibly written and developed, Diane Magras presents a powerful, poignant story that seems timeless as it has contemporary appeal with “old time” flavor.

Diane Magras has created another fabulous cast of characters who bravely fight together against the Umbrae, risking all for the sake of others.

Well done!