This was a fairly decent follow-up to The Armageddon Code but not quite as polished as that one was. It felt very much like a comic book translated into a prose novel, with somewhat cliched characters and a fairly paint-by-numbers plot. I'd describe it as a cross between the Supernatural TV show and a super-hero comic. It's not a bad book, it's actually quite enjoyable, but also nothing I'd call extraordinary. An okay read.

If you enjoy all things Marvel, this would be a great read for you. I didn't realize this was a series before I read it. I will be going back to read the other one as well. It's just fun.

While I am a huge fan of Marvel movies, I am pretty much hit or miss with the comics themselves. The Shadow Society is written more along the lines of a novelized comic book without the cool illustrations. The idea of a team of anti-heroes is pretty standard stuff and the members of the quintet pretty [stereo]typical … so don’t expect a PC story here. Since this is the second of the series, let’s meet the main characters. Spur is muscle bound cowboy that is the nominal leader of the “ very special unit” and has the ability to duplicate or match his opponent’s main advantage. Boo is “petite” ninja assassin who earned her code name from her ability to ambush folks from the shadows (as in Boo, you dead). Pin-up (yeah, they went there) is a sexualized Latina who can shape shift (of course). Ticker is a dapper African American who can stop time and Hack follows the trend with his legendary cyber skills.

The story opens with a little demonic possession and satanic cult weirdness that it hopefully meant as a caricature the exorcism tradition of the Catholic Church. It is designed by be repulsive and it does a fair job without being too silly. Next we get some sleight of hand and the characters all move around the board without any apparent rhyme or reason other than bad guys gotta be bad guys. Frankly that makes Part I a bit of a drag to get through. We don’t get to the actually plot until Part II when we realize that Satan has some very specific plans to bring about Armageddon … and there really are no surprises here … after all, the prophecy is over 2 thousand years old by now. Part III is where the team springs into action to head off the Devil at the pass … with a [moderately] surprising incentive on top. This is where the super hero genre finally comes through and it was just okay when all was said and done. If you are a big comic book fan, feel free to add a star.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#TheShadowSociety #TheDevilsQuintet #NetGalley

This book was extremely satisfying to read. Really got me out of a week long reading slump. Finished this in a matter of days and kept thinking about it ever since.

This was sadly not a book that I could get through, I stopped reading around 18 percent. The first book was bad, but I managed to finish it. This however, was just....worse, maybe it's because I'm not the worlds biggest Marvel fan, but I think that other than the obvious (comics) the only way to properly tell stories from Marvel is in either live action, or preferably animation.

The narrative voice, characters, plot, everything that I experienced was just not enjoyable.


Either way, thanks netgalley for the e-ARC in exhange for my honest review.