Shadowland by Peter Straub is hard to begin. The setup is initially boring, but once you muddle through it is well worth the wait. If a book makes me loose sleep to read, then I'm giving it a five. This is definitely one of the creepiest books I've ever read warping fairy tales into nightmares and forcing youth into a fast adulthood. The main characters, Tom and Del are forced into challenges that only an adult should face and not even then. Straub is a story teller first. The characterization of Del and Tom simply fell in line with the story he wanted to tell. It did not matter if you liked them or not, but their story was so incredibly interesting - you had to follow. Betrayal wove through as an underlying theme forcing your compassion to flee for both Del and Tom. Both boys were driven intrinsically by curiosity, love or jealousy. In the end they were boys trying to experience magic even though all that remained was ugly and dark leaving a wolf rather than the girl in the red hood open to love. Shadowland wasn't just one story, but a creative mix of so many fairy tales heard before. Musically it was an overture of classic 80's stemming from an old Doors album lighting fires with baby. I found it totally bitchin' and copacetic all at once. I highly recommend it and hope to see it as a Netflix series staring Timothée Chalamet as Tom and Max Charles as Del.
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