Review--Shadow Fall by Erin Kellison

SACRIFICE

Custo Santovari accepted pain, blood, even death, to save his best friend. But a man with all his sins just isn't cut out to be an angel.

MYSTERY

One moment he's fleeing Heaven; the next, he's waking up stark naked in Manhattan. In the middle of a war. Called there by a woman who

s desperately afraid of the dark.

SHADOW

It gathers around Annabella as she performs, filled with fantastic images of another world, bringing her both a golden hero and a nightmare lover.

WOLF

He pursues her relentlessly, twisting her desires even as she gives herself to the man she loves. Because each of us has a wild side, and Annabella is about to unleash the beast.

Erin Kellison's Shadow Fall was a GREAT followup to Shadow Bound! This time Custo takes the lead as one of the main narrators and we get to know a little more about him and what he went through before he was killed. He manages to escape from Heaven to return to Earth for he has another message to tell Adam and Segue. Something he was unable to pass along before he died. There was not one, but two traitors at Segue, one was the man who killed him...and the other has yet to be revealed. Even Custo doesn't know who it is, only that they are at Segue with Adam and Talia.

While making his way across the treacherous land of Shadow, Custo sees a vision of loveliness and is drawn to her for reasons he cannot begin to explain, more than just her beauty. But he is not alone, someone else sees the beautiful woman dancing among the trees of Shadowland, a wolf.

In comes Annabella, a young woman who loves dancing. She's happiest when dancing and is preparing for her big debut as the star of the ballet, Giselle. Which the story itself sort of plays into towards the end, when the ballet performance/story becomes real.

When Annabella dances strange things happen, things she cannot explain and she soon notices that she is being followed, by a wolf. Then Custo enters her life telling her she's in danger and that he is going to help her. Quite literally. It's a lot for Annabella to handle when he starts talking about the mysterious Shadowland, she already knows about Wraiths, who doesn't? Word of their attacks are on the news now. Things have changed and Custo doesn't realize that he has been gone longer than he thought.

Adam and Talia also make a returning appearance. Things have definitely changed. Time has passed, yet Adam and Talia are still on a mission to rid the world of Wraiths. Custo knows that he will need Adam and Segue's help in protecting Annabella, but that itself is another challenge entirely. When one comes back from the dead, others aren't always so trusting.

While there is no distinct fairy tale that I can recall that has a strong role in the novel, it still has that fairy tale element to it. There's a wolf and there is more than one tale involving a wolf. And the wolf is always the bad guy...in fairy tales of old that is! So that part remains true to the fairy tales that we know and remember.

There was a gradual buildup to the relationship of Annabella and Custo, although by changing p.o.v. between these two you know fairly quickly how they feel for one another. Although since I read it in 2 ish days, half day yesterday, half a day today, it seemed quick enough! 

It seems almost impossible for Custo and Annabella to rid themselves of the wolf, as it is growing more powerful the longer it remains in their world and it wants Annabella for itself.

There is definitely quite a bit of action in this book and it was well paced. The writing was once again, different, yet still enjoyable. There's the sense of a modern feel and a fairy tale magical feel at the same time again. I really do enjoy this series, what I hope will be a continuing series for it is quite enjoyable and a much different series than what I'm used to in other books!

Overall I give it 4.5/5 stars! Very interested to see who will be in the next book and when the next one will come out.