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, 10:27, 11 July 2014
{{infobox
|title=Shimmer
|author=Paula Weston
|reviewer=Loralei Haylock
|genre=Teens
|rating=4.5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=978-1780621876
|pages=416
|publisher=Indigo
|date=July 2014
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780621876</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>1780621876</amazonus>
|website=http://paula-weston.com/
|video=
|summary='Shimmer'' is an exercise in nail biting tension, less action focused than the previous installments, but every bit as exciting and page turning in a different way. Highly recommended.
}}
Gaby is still struggling to come to terms with the many major revelations that have been thrown at her in the past few days - not least that the brother she's believed dead for a year is actually alive. Oh, and they're both Rephaim, half-Angel children of the Fallen - angels that fell from grace after seducing human women.
Now Rafa - frustrating, sexy Rafa, whose complicated history with Gaby makes their new relationship difficult to navigate - is being held captive by the Gatekeeper Demons. Gaby has to wait for Nathaniel, leader of the Rephaim, to make a decision on whether to help her save him or not. Gaby isn't good at waiting, especially with Rafa's life on the line - and she has a terrible feeling that Nathaniel's decision isn't going to go her way.
More than ever, Gaby wishes she could remember her life with the Rephaim, that she wasn't so completely helpless. But the more she finds out about her past self, the less she's sure she wants to know...
Weston doesn't disappoint in this latest installment of her excellent Rephaim series. ''Shimmer'' may lack the sizzling romantic tension with Rafa imprisoned for a good chunk of the book, but delivers on incredible action set pieces, high tension political stand-offs between the different factions within the Rephaim, and develops the interesting morality and mythology of the Angels.
The most interesting thing about the story continues to be the battle Gaby faces to reconcile her past life with her current understanding of herself. Her confusion and fear about her past provides really interesting conflict, and the mystery of what happened to her and Jude is almost a ticking time bomb - you know they are going to find out, but the closer you get to it, the more certain you become that it's nothing good, and the less you want to know. The whole book is an exercise in nail biting tension, less action focused than the previous installments, but every bit as exciting and page turning in a different way.
This series has been consistently high quality, and I'm really excited to see where Weston takes it next. With everything in place for a final confrontation with the Gatekeeper demons, 2015 and book 4 can't come soon enough. Highly recommended.
My thanks to the publisher for sending a copy.
Fans of YA Fantasy featuring interesting political conflict might enjoy [[Graceling by Kristin Cashore]].
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