Cast no Shadow by Nick Tapalansky and Anissa Espinosa

Summary from Goodreads:

Greg has lived in Lancaster his whole life. The town's always had its quirks, and being born without a shadow means he's counted among them. When Greg discovers an old mansion in the woods just outside of town, he didn't expect to meet a smart, beautiful, funny, and...very dead teenaged girl named Eleanor.

Yeah. He's in love with a ghost.

And before he knows what's happening, Greg finds himself at the wrong end of a history lesson when the town's past, and his own, threaten to pull the two of them apart permanently!

From acclaimed comics writer Nick Tapalansky and phenomenal newcomer artist Anissa Espinosa, Cast No Shadow is a teen romance with humor and heart.

Review:

What pulled me into reading this book was the super adorable illustration on the back of it. There’s a picture of a teen boy kissing a girl (who looks like Disney Alice from Alice in Wonderland), with lots of little spirit creatures floating in the background (who look like they came from My Neighbor Totoro). The illustrations appealed to me. And I can’t lie; the illustrations remained cute through the book, though at times a bit juvenile.

I guess that adjective of “juvenile” can be easily applied to the whole thing. The book was marketed as a teen romance, and it definitely reads more like a children’s/middle grade book with a tiny little side element of romance. It’s more about the main character not having a shadow, and learning to live with his father’s new girlfriend. These things were interesting, but I was promised a romance…so I was a little disappointed.

Eventually readers learn that Greg does have a shadow. It just lives separately from him, and follows no moral code. It kind of does whatever it wants, or whatever Greg wants (but knows better than to do). I found this whole concept to be interesting and unique. But, the story never delves too deeply into Greg’s subconscious, and instead focuses on the standard young boy frustrations (jealousy, friendship fights, and family squabbles). I was kind of hoping the whole shadow thing would go a little bit deeper or tat Greg would be more interesting, with more interesting problems.

This was not a deep book. It was rather fluffy and juvenile. I’m not sure if this would have bothered me as much, if this was how it were marketed. All in all, the illustrations were great, but the story was a lacking depth and good characters. I give this a 7/10.