The story was pretty interesting and had a neat concept with the “Skilled”. I also liked the setting with the Graveyard city. So this is what rather kept me going for a bit while reading. The magic system itself was interesting and somewhat different from what I’ve read in the past. That kept the flow of reading along. Somewhat. The world building was alright although I wanted more detail and more explanation. What type of world was this? Yes it’s got magic in it but am I looking at fantasy with a Graveyard city? Is it a steampunk setting? What am I looking at here? Now let’s move onto the characters. Out of all of them, Silas even though he was pretty much your typical villain, was actually the most interesting. Even though he was the most interesting though, he wasn’t really that likable (understandably so, he’s a villain BUT I always root for the bad guy). He wasn’t really part of the “cool bad guy” crowd I suppose for lack of a better explanation. Edgar, who is Kate’s friend, meh. Not sure if I really liked him. He was a wuss. Sure, he had some few good moments. Otherwise though he just wasn’t that great at all. Kate was okay. She was a typical strong girl character you see in most YA novels like these. In summary though, I’d have to say these characters in the book are ho hum. There’s not much feeling to them, they’re not likable, and they’re just...blah. Because of this and the lack of world building I just didn’t feel that much into the book and didn’t grab my attention. Sure, there were good points in the book but it just wasn’t quite enough to get me into the book like some others have. I’m not sure I’m going to go further into the series. I’d say take it or leave it with this one. I’ve seen other reviews where some have really enjoyed the book. Unfortunately much as I wanted to, I didn’t so much.

Let's just say I found myself skimming near the end.

It was a pretty decent premise, but none of the characters were developed enough for me to want to know more of them. I will still be continuing on with the series to see if the story gets more detailed.

The beginning of this read was frustrating for me because I kept trying to fit the setting into some version of our world, and it doesn’t quite go. So I won’t be adding this to the historical fantasy page because, although the world looks slightly Victorian, the history doesn’t work. Generally speaking, felt like Burtenshaw had an interesting concept, but it never got to that next level which would have wowed me. And generally speaking, I had a hard time believing in the world; I didn’t buy that people would react in the way they supposedly did. It was strong enough that I’ll probably read the second book, to see where the story goes.

Shadowcry (Wintercraft #1) - Jenna Burte... so much promise. rtf

Shadowcry (Wintercraft, #1) - Jenna Burt... I went into Shadowcry with no expectations whatsoever. Sure I’d seen a handful of reviews but I still didn’t really know what to expect from the author, the characters, or the setting. I was pleasantly surprised by Shadowcry and while I didn’t end up loving it, I will definitely be checking out the sequels.The setting is what really made Shadowcry so awesome and gripping. The cities of Morvane and Fume (especially the underground city in Fume) are unlike any I have read about. They are not fantastical places full of castles and wonders but they are memorable places. Morvane is a small city with some awesome creepy underground tunnels. A lot of time isn’t spent in Morvane so a lot of details aren’t given but it’s any place to imagine. Fume is the real wonder. The magic of Fume starts with the Night Train and it doesn’t end there. The Night Train is one dark and scary train with a pretty awesome history. It’s where things in the story start to get really interesting and things only get more fascinating as the Night Train delivers it’s prisoners to Fume. Fume is a city built on thousands of graves but that’s not all it’s built upon. Underneath the towers of Fume is a whole other city. Instead of tearing down the city that was originally there, the council decided to build upon it, not thinking that anyone would continue to live underneath. Every part of the setting was wonderful and the writing was so descriptive that I was easily able to picture every last scene in my head.Jenna Burtenshaw’s writing also makes the book so fun to read. Her writing is lush and descriptive and it was definitely one of the things that hooked me. Also, while it is descriptive, it is never weighty and there is never too much description. Even the bleakest of places were made beautiful by Jenna Burtenshaw’s writing.The characters are where I found the book to be a bit lacking. Kate Winters is the heroine of this story. She seemed like the might be a strong character in the beginning but as the book went on I found her to be a bit whiny. She was definitely thrust into a crazy situation but I felt that she could have handled it a lot better. She was just a bit too immature for my tastes. As for the other characters, Silas, Edgar, and Da’ru were once again found to be a little lacking. Silas was supposed to be this villain but I felt sorry for him more than anything. Edgar is a good friend to Kate (maybe hoping for more?) but he was kind of a doof. He always managed to get both of them into tons of trouble and he was not good at getting them out of that trouble. Da’ru was the real villain in the story and I just wasn’t scared of her. I don’t think there was enough background on her to really make her the villain that I would have liked. I’m hoping for some development of all the characters in the next book.As for the plot, it was a little weak but definitely gripping. I think the worst part about it was that Kate and Edgar kept getting into the same situations over and over again. One of them would be captured, the other would run away, the one not locked up would return to save the other, and they would then be captured while the other one got away. It was so freaking repetitive. I mean, really, how many times can you get captured without wising up? However the magic of Wintercraft and the search for the book as well as Kate’s burgeoning powers managed to keep things interesting enough for me to finish the book in a day. It’s definitely a fast read.Overall, Shadowcry could have been a lot better, that’s for sure, but I still greatly enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it for a rainy day. The sequels are both high on my to-read list!