Illusion (Song and Shadow) – Annie Oldham (Review)

Title: Illusion (Songs and Shadows, #2)
Author: Annie Oldham
Publisher: Annie Oldham, 2016
Genre: YA Paranormal

**I received a copy of this book from from Ebooksforreview.com and the author in exchange for an honest review**

This review can be found on my Blog, TeacherofYA’s Tumblr, or my Goodreads page

My Review:

Don’t worry about spoilers for the first book here because it’s really not necessary for me to delve into too much from Possession to review this book. It’s practically a stand-alone…but it did end in a cliffhanger! 😩😩😩

But that does not affect the quality of the book, which was great again! (Just like book one!)

So Constance is a Necromancer. If you read my last review, then you know about that. If not, it’s cool. She’s a Necromancer. And the problem is a Dark Necromancer, or a Necromancer that uses spirits for their own personal gain, is on the loose. Constance (or Con as she is called by friends and family) is beginning to come into her own as a Necromancer. 

As a matter of fact…she’s eclipsing her mom. But she doesn’t want her mom to know, since her mom taught her about it. 

The number one suspect? Mr. Ransom, the new school principal. The one who arrived after Mr. Clark turned up dead.

But Con can’t prove it. And the more she tries, the more dangerous the situation becomes. 

And on top of that, Seth, Seline’s ex, seems to have noticed Con. She can’t stop thinking about Seth, but with all that’s going on in her life, filling out college essays and dating aren’t high on her list.

Especially since some strange stuff has been happening. To Seline. And even though she’s Con’s mortal enemy, can she really stand by when Seline is all alone? Is she really so bad behind the heels and attitude?

Con only knows one thing: she might have to start doing some investigating on her own…and leave her mom behind.

Is It Classroom-Appropriate?

Yes, there is still nothing too inappropriate to have it used in a classroom setting. However, I really still feel that it’s more of an outside reading source, and once this series is complete, I would love to own physical copies for the classroom library!  But for educational purposes, it doesn’t really delve too much into one area. I’d still like to see my students read it, but it just wouldn’t be used in a lesson plan, and that’s not surprising as some books are more for fun. 

New thing I’m trying out: I give this book two teachers out of five. 👩‍🏫👩‍🏫/👩‍🏫👩‍🏫👩‍🏫👩‍🏫👩‍🏫*

*I want to find a way to also rate the classroom “usefulness” of a book. As it stands, this book is more for fun reading. I’m going to have to come up with a little rating System with scores for it. But I wanted to try it out. I already rate the overall book…but this would be something just for the “Teacher” in TeacherofYA!

Age Range

I am sticking with Possession‘s age range and going with 13 here. 12 would probably also be safe…but then you get into the “how comfortable are you having your child read about Necromancy” and that can get iffy. So I’m always feeling a little safer recommending at 13. However, my niece is 12 and I’m fine with letting her read these and I think she would enjoy them!

End Result:

Well, besides the fact that I now have another excuse to post Necromancer pics? I of course give this one the same as Possession, though I did like it a little more as the story seems to keep developing, but I think it is a solid ★★★★☆. And that means…

And now it’s time for…

NECROMANCER PICS!!!

Ooh…this could be Constance! (In 10 years)

Incredibly elaborate costumed Necromancer?

 

AUS Cosplay winner Necromancer (Ummm…)

Cute (are all Necros half-naked?) art Necromancer

And I think I’ll end on that note! Necromancers just get more scandalous-looking from there! 

Happy Reading, y’all!