Shade's Children

By: Garth Nix

Narrated by: Siho Ellsmore

From renowned fantasy author of the Old Kingdom series, Garth Nix, comes a dystopian fantasy perfect for fans of Hunger Games and Divergent.

Imagine a world where your 14th birthday is your last and where even your protector may not be trusted....

In a futuristic urban wasteland, evil Overlords have decreed that no human shall live a day past their 14th birthday. On that Sad Birthday, the children of the Dorms are taken to the Meat Factory, where they will be made into creatures whose sole purpose is to kill.

The mysterious Shade - once a man, but now more like the machines he fights - recruits the few teenagers who escape into a secret resistance force. With luck, cunning, and skill, four of Shade's children come closer than any to discovering the source of the Overlords' power - and the key to their downfall. But the closer they get, the more ruthless Shade seems to become.

©2010 Garth Nix (P)2021 Listening Library

Great the first time and now

I enjoyed this book when I first read it as a young teen. It is still just as enjoyable.

this was my favorite book ever in middle school

it was amazing to listen to it again a whole life later, (I was 12 then and I'm 30 now) and loved it as both versions of myself

Tough but good

Somewhat somber post apocalyptic kids book with some lessons on what the meaning of humanity is.

Such a great story.

Such a great story. Doesn’t overstay it’s welcome and would love to see this turned into a tv show!

it's so dumb but so fun

a childhood pulp classic. enjoyed re-reading it.
visual, gripping, and def sticks with you.

Fun idea well executed

The story builds to a very satisfying ending. It’s a bit aimless at times and the voice fiven to Drum really hampered my enjoyment, but well worth a read.

My last attempt on Nix

When sampling it I was intrigued by the story and thought it was worth the risk of buying. Unfortunately, there was no reward to be found with this risk.

The writing style is reminiscent of a 15 year old in a creative writing class. I think I’m officially done with Nix. He is a great world builder (in theory), but lacks the writing ability to do it any justice.

Narrator sucks

one of the best stories ever, don't know why but the older version they had was definitely better, I'm assuming audible thought they needed to be newer sexier, but honestly the guy who read it for the first audio book did a far better job this one feels dead as far as the reader goes, it's almost like she forgets she's supposed to be reading it like a performance then she remembers for a few lines then it's back to the old expressionless reading. Seriously looked forward to listening to this audio book for a while now and I'm almost tempted to just delete this version and keep looking for the one I'm thinking of. No offense Audible but newer is most definitely not always better