Fiends on the Other Side
By Vera Strange
(202 pages, juvenile fiction, 2020)
This quick read is for those who like books about magic and shadows coming to life. This children’s suspense book about a Disney villain reads a lot like Goosebumps.
The villain, the Shadow Man, will intrigue you. From his purple dust to the way words twist off his tongue. And why does he want the necklace Jamal’s Grandmother left him when she died? It’ll protect you from the shadows was the only clue she left. But ever since Jamal got this necklace the shadows are coming to life, something that never happened before. Something that only intensifies his being bullied and feeling like an outsider from his twin brother. Will he give in and make a deal with the Shadow Man?
I liked that the dark themes were told in a way that you can still enjoy even if reading it before bed. It’s definitely a kid’s book with lots of little details in it kids would enjoy, but adults can enjoy it, too. At times it had too much detail for me, but for those of you who like to be fully immersed in a world, it did a good job of that.
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Amy Cornwall
