The Shadowverse is a superhero adventure written for young adults, and penned by author John-Clement Gallo. Combining science fiction, suspense and comic book action, the plot begins when Johnny Sparks and his three fellow college friends are imbued with superpowers from an encounter with a mysterious stranger. Soon after, they discover that fellow college attendee Rose is actually an alien, sought after by powerful forces from across the galaxy. As tensions rise and danger looms, the new heroes are called out of this world to find the only person who can help them, but even this immortal warrior has issues that must be resolved. What follows is an even bigger battle for the soul of the universe itself.

I enjoyed the progression of the plot very much, from the small-time discovery of Johnny’s powers right up to the whole universe-at-stake blockbuster ending, and I think the pacing is really good for a young adult novel. This was a long read with plenty of concepts to enjoy, and author John-Clement Gallo takes time to really craft the heroes and villains of the piece to give a fully rounded set of people (and aliens) who feel like so much more than comic book heroes by the time the tale ends. The prose is complex, so I’d certainly recommend it as a read for ages fifteen to nineteen in the young adult genre, but I’d also say that plenty of adult readers and fans of science fiction are certain to enjoy The Shadowverse as well.

The Shadowverse: A YA Sci-Fi Superhero Adventure by John-Clement Gallo is a fast-paced, action-packed adventure that takes readers across the galaxies. An encounter between Johnny Sparks and a mysterious stranger leaves him and his friends with unimaginable powers. But soon after this encounter, one of his friends is taken by a powerful alien warlord called Titan. Now begins the hunt to rescue his friend. The only help they can get is from an immortal warrior who has gone missing for centuries, and to reach him the group has to travel across the galaxy. Titan has sinister plans for humanity and it won’t be long before he destroys the world they know. But can they get the help they need in time and stop a catastrophe that is irreversible?

John-Clement Gallo’s work is highly imaginative and readers will enjoy the young characters. Johnny Sparks has found a purpose for his life, but he also has to learn the hard lesson that special gifts come with great responsibility. Readers will enjoy the journey of this young hero as he learns to forget himself and to seek the common good. While the action is pulsating and the adventure breathtaking, the lessons of this narrative are among the things that set it aside — the importance of teamwork, endurance, the strength of trusting in one’s heart. The characters are strong and believable, and I even loved the way the villain looks. I always believe that the strength of a protagonist depends on the cunning of the villain and this author justifies that belief. Readers will genuinely hate the villain and find themselves rooting for the hero. The Shadowverse: A YA Sci-Fi Superhero Adventure has a lot that readers enjoy in Young Adult fantasy and adventure — non-stop action, great prose, characters who develop through the conflict and high stakes.

Sometimes people are chosen to become heroes; just like in The Shadowverse. John-Clement Gallo creates a novel around a team of young adults destined for greater things. These friends entertain us as they learn about their powers and the different ways to use them. Johnny, Ryan, Sam, Dustin, Rose, and Jane have a lot to learn and everything is a learning experience.

The Shadowverse, by John-Clement Gallo, is comical for a time travel novel. With a familiar plot altered in a unique way, this book is fresh and amusing. The author being a teenager himself, you will find the characters have a personal feel about their personalities. Overall, I love the book, but my favorite characters are Sam and Dustin. These brothers are goofy, yet fun. They work well together for siblings and are so vain they make me laugh. I would highly recommend this for time travel and science fiction fans.

The Shadowverse
John Gallo

Superheroes. Since the 1940’s every Tom, Dick, Harry, and Jane has been writing about superheroes. Some were kids, most were adults, but they all had super something in their beings. The teen superheroes in this book caught a vague interest in me because I grew up not having any. In fact, I have seen cartoons but never paid attention. I was into action-adventure books. Comics/comiccon/ and such things never interested me and still don’t. Worse yet when you read a few pages into this book, you find out that the teens are twenty-two years old, and the size of ogres. For those that have been abused by Disney, ogres since the dawn of man have been bullies, warriors or slaves that are over six-foot tall. If you look at the world today, you will not find many world leaders that do not fit the above description, so sad!

Now come on, that is not the normal teen by any sense of the word, yet these guys are. Moving on the first alert for me was a girl, honestly with red hair When the five main characters were over six foot tall, I immediately thought I was reading about a basketball team. To me, these were the bad parts of the book. What is it with red hair in books and movies lately. Just doesn’t seem right to me.

Yet there were a bunch of good parts, excellent parts and a saga that takes you across the galaxy, even I can get into that. What about the antagonist, one that doesn’t lie, always tells the truth… whoa wait, is that possible? And the “good” guys want to stop this sweet person that is trying to save the universe, and mankind from its hateful, selfish self? No way, let him do his thing and save all of us!

Of course, that would not be a very good ending if we were all perfect now, would it? What seems to be at stake here is free will. Free will to kill, rape, torture and starve those you want to get rid of, versus peace and harmony. Am I rooting for the wrong person? Well, of course, I want the “good guys” to win, but at what cost?

This is a book you need to read if you are a superhero fan or not, I give this book four stars out of five, mostly because of the comic book headings and archaic wording, neither of which hurt the storyline.

I need to start off by saying, I love the imagination used to create the different worlds we get to visit. I’m almost finding myself wanting to book a cruiser to Herook.

While this book does need a bit more editing and tightening up, it still presented an exciting story.

I love the unique personalities of each team member. We are quickly introduced to them all at the beginning of the book. Over time, we get to know them on a more intimate level. We learn their backstories - what makes them tick. It’s always interesting to see how people with similar tragedies develop different traits. Some internalize that anger, using it to drive them to self-destruct. Some immediately implode. While others convert the anger to something positive.

The loved watching the interactions between the characters. I thoroughly enjoyed the verbal sparring between the boys. I probably chuckled more than I should have. Poor Ryan. Poor Johnny. It’s a good thing being clueless about girls doesn’t affect a hero’s ability to save the universe.

There are a few “who exactly are you?” characters sprinkled throughout the book. Some hints were dropped. I think I know who the mysterious “Z” is, but I need to read the next book for more clues.

Six ordinary young people have their lives changed forever when they discover that they're not so ordinary after all. Soon they're a band of superheroes, traveling through space and trying to save the world.

"The Shadowverse" has a lot of superhero tropes that superhero fans are likely to recognize and enjoy. So if you like a good superhero story, this book has a lot that will probably appeal to you. Some of the aspects of the the book that really stood out for me were the martial arts training and fighting scenes, which were portrayed with lots of realistic detail, and the meditation scenes, which helped provide a balance to the numerous fight scenes. The dialogue between the main characters also had the authentic ring of high school/college age speech, and gives some pleasant moments of levity.

I can see this book really appealing to adolescent readers in particular, with its young protagonists and high-action sequences interspersed with some light romance and a little philosophy. Recommended for teenage fans of superhero fiction.

My thanks to the author for providing a review copy. All opinions are my own.

The Shadowverse is a richly imagined world where a band of friends must join forces in order to save the world! This book definitely reminded me of The Guardians of the Galaxy meets Team Titan.

I typically don’t get into the superhero theme, but this book was a lot of fun to read. It was witty, action packed, and full of adventure with twists and turns.

One of the coolest aspects of this book is that the author is only 17, so he is able to offer a unique perspective into his characters that gives them even more depth.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It does take some time to digest all of the information necessary to navigate through the universe, but once I got through that, this book was too good to put down.

Thank you to the author for providing a copy of this book for me to review. It did not bias my review in any way, and all opinions are my own.

Rating: 4 stars

I must state that, to-date, this is the most difficult sci-fi book review I have ever had to write. The author, for one so young (only seventeen years of age), is one hell of a wordsmith. However, their lack of life experience does show through within the body of the work. So to be fair to the author, I have to try to approach this review from two angles; Firstly, as a young/new adult sci-fi reader and, secondly, as a more mature age sci-fi reader, which is what I am.

As an older teen or new/young adult sci-fi reader, especially if I was into comic books or superhero movies, I would find this story to be pretty cool. The characters are well developed, and the world building is very professionally done. The plot, whilst simplistic and uncomplicated, is filled with action and is revealed at a good pace, especially considering the book is well over five hundred pages long. The author seems to have mastered the technique of tension/pressure building and release, which in my opinion is great, as it has been my experience that a considerable number of authors in this genre seem only to know how to build tension and do not give the reader the time to de-compress during the read. Many times, to do so, I have had to just stop reading. With this author I did not have to do so.

I would easily give the book five stars based on younger me.

As a more mature age sci-fi reader, I think somewhat differently. To begin with, I found the word imagery contained within the first two pages to be feel forced and obviously designed to try to impress. Fortunately, that settled down rather quickly and the writing became more natural and the story flowed much more realistically. At 70% through the book we have the heroes visiting the US President at the Whitehouse in an attempt to “save the World.” Personally, I think that the Secretary General of the United Nations would have been the more appropriate person to have initially called upon. This was somewhat rectified later, but, more or less as an afterthought. There is a considerable amount of “facepalming” throughout the read and, towards the latter part of the story, much weeping and gnashing of teeth. IMO, the principle that best applies is, some is okay, less is better, more is much, much worse.

Overall, I found the plot to be somewhat parochial. I found the main characters’ behaviours/reactions to be simplistic and sometimes predictable. But, given that this is the Author’s first work, and also given their very early stage of development in life, that was perfectly understandable. This was nothing if not an entertaining read, and I would lean toward giving the book three stars as an older reader.

So, averaging it out between youthful and older reader, I give Shadowverse four stars overall. I’m looking forward to more of John-Clement Gallo because he shows immense promise and the scifi genre needs young writers like him.

The Shadowverse is a story about a group of friends with superpowers who must join forces and learn to work together not only to save their friend but their world. The friendship described in the book between Sam, Dustin, Ryan and Johnny was so special, they complemented each other perfectly and that was my favorite part.

The reason why this wasn't a 5 stars for me is because everything in the first chapters from them being friends with the girls, to getting their powers and figure out how they worked felt rushed for me but after those chapters, I fell in love with the story and characters. I loved the author writing style and the book had a lot of action from beginning to end which I loved because I never got bored while reading it.

Fabulous! I can’t believe the author is only 17

2019 is the year of discoveries for me. By accident, or guided by the starlight, I wouldn’t know, I came upon two teenage writers and authors who are still not out of their classrooms but are already “competing” with thousands of more experienced writers on equal footing on Amazon and other book-selling platforms.

In February this year, Michael Evans disarmed me and won my sympathies with his dystopian Control Freakz. A month later, John-Clement Gallo did it with his Sci-Fi adventure novel The Shadowverse.

“This parallel universe, what I call the Shadowverse, is a mere shadow of this one, where energies of all kinds reign. It is connected to this one by a series of wormholes—the creators of which I do not yet know. Sometimes the portals open where they should not.”

If this “definition” of the Shadowverse, in the words of the villain Titan, is not enough for you to grab and time-travel through this book, then I hope the group of six of our superheroes with their incredible powers gathered under the name the Shadowforce will be. Just out of their teenage years, they are warriors of the universe on a mission to save our home planet from the alien force which wants to take it over.

Still being a teenager, Gallo delivers us natural, funny and witty dialogues between his young protagonists and development of a clumsy romantic relationship I enjoyed very much. His personal expertise in martial arts (he is ranked a black belt in taekwondo and hapkido) gives his fighting scenes an extra-realistic touch and excitement.

But it is his love for astronomy, astrophysics and distant worlds that breathes life into this story. John-Clement is a teenager who dreams of stars. His enchantment by a star-spangled night sky and the modern culture of superheroes saving us in various blockbusters and comics is the real juice that sets his imagination in motion by creating a fast paced and action-packed story of tall, likeable and ordinary-young-people-turned-superheroes with an important mission.

If we had doubts about the future of Sci-Fi or dystopian genres, we can be at peace now. Both Gallo and Evans want to save humanity, they both have talent to entertain us and capture our attention, and their determination to write and publish the series of books is nothing but commendable ambition at such a young age.

What more is there to say?

What a fun, interesting read! When the author approached me on twitter and asked me to read and review the book, I was definitely interested but also a little worried that it might not be my "style" since I go for more romance-esque books. Well let me tell you, I was absolutely wrong! This book has it all- adventure, realness, a great plot, tragedy, and even a little romance there thrown in there for me!

The characters were carefully and thoughtfully planned out to where you definitely were able to relate to them and were able to like the like-able characters but even be able to understand the concepts behind the "unlike-able" characters.

This book made me think and really understand the "why" people do what they do and even put myself in their shoes- both our heroes and the villains. I really liked how it had me do this.

In regards to the story line, wowzers there is a LOT going on! I did get a little confused at times because there are a lot of a characters and a lot of places and again, just a lot going on. I can see WHY it was that way, but it did get a little overwhelming.

All in all, this was a great fantasy superhero read and I believe the author is only going to get better and better in the next books coming out.

4 outta 5 stars from me!

I always have an appreciation for a good science fiction/fantasy story. So, Shadowverse by John-Clement Gallo definitely caught my attention. This book introduces friends: Johnny, Ryan, Dustin, Sam, Jane, and Rose. Little do they know, their friend Rose is from an alien planet. All the friends soon realize they have extraordinary powers! When Rose is taken by Titan, they must rescue her. In order to rescue her, they must find an ancient warrior to help them and stop Titan’s plans before it is too late.

This is definitely an interesting read. I feel this book has a lot of inspiration behind it. The science fiction aspect reminds me of Star Wars. The comic book aspect reminds me of the Fantastic Four. But the writing has the wit of Guardians of the Galaxy. One thing that blew me away, is that the author is seventeen years old. I am so impressed! This book really focuses on what it means to be a true friend and a hero. I love the bond between friends.

The pacing can be a little awkward. Some parts, in the beginning, feel rushed, while the ending slows down a bit. However, this book is still enjoyable!! If you are a fan of YA, science fiction and fantasy then you will probably enjoy this story. Overall, I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars! Check it out!

This is a really good story! I loved how the characters meshed and overcome their individual shortcomings by working together. I received this novel as an ARC and I am gladly leaving this review. Pick this one up if you are into superheroes and space opera, it has both that are put together nicely. You will enjoy the read, I did.

While I like science fiction, I have been moving away reading it. They all seemed to follow the same plotline, and I was getting bored reading them. So, when the author of The Shadowverse approached me to review his book, I almost didn’t accept it. But there was something about the blurb that made me think twice. I am glad that I did because this was a fantastic read!!

The Shadowverse was an interesting combination of science fiction, fantasy, and Christian literature. I have read this combination before, and it fell flat. But not The Shadowverse. The author was able to meld all three genres’ together wonderfully. I loved it.

I did like the plotline of The Shadowverse, but there were times where I found that it got choppy. Like when the author went into Rose/Adira’s background. Her backstory didn’t meld well into the main story. There were other, smaller instances, but Rose’s stood out the most in the book. Other than that, I did like the plotline. It was fast paced and well written.

The characters in The Shadowverse was some of the more unique ones that I have read in a book. What I liked the most about these characters was that the author was able to make me feel pity and sympathy for the main bad guys (Titan and Solis). Of course, that sympathy waned throughout the book. But still.

The main plotline was interesting. I enjoyed seeing the kids learning about their powers. They did everything that I expected kids that age to do if they found out that they had powers. I enjoyed seeing the different planets that the kids visited as they tracked down Titan. I also enjoyed seeing their interactions with Sonovan. And the training. I know that I wouldn’t have been able to keep up with that!!

The last battle, between The Shadowforce and Titan, was epic. The aftermath of the fight was heartbreaking. My heart was in my throat when during those scenes. The aftermath of the fight was heartbreaking. I cried right along with Johnny and Sam. I also needed to know who Z was. The clue given at the end of the book makes me wonder if the answer was right under my nose!!!

I would give The Shadowverse an Older Teen rating. There is no sex. There is mild language. There is violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 16 read this book.

I would reread The Shadowverse. I would recommend it to family and friends.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**

This book is a pretty awesome feat for a first-time author.

The story is filled with action and has a group well thought out characters. My favorite was the two brothers who worked off each other's powers. (Read the story to find out more)

As one person said, it had a comic book feel. I on the other hand love comics, and seeing that the story was about super heroes, I appreciated the feel!

The only thing that I would change is the dialogue in some parts. It was a bit forces. Don't get me wrong, it’s not a big deal and still worth read!

Well done Mr. Gallo!

The “Shadowverse” is a parallel universe to the one that we know; it is a faint mirror or “shadow” of the one that we live in and it is connected to our universe through wormholes. Unfortunately, the portals to the Shadowverse tend to be a bit temperamental, often opening in the least convenient places and times. This is just one of the things our new superheroes have to contend with.

Speaking of superheroes, some people are born to be book geeks, like myself...others are born, or perhaps more precisely chosen to become oh so much more than they ever thought they would be. This is the case with Rose, Sam, Johnny, Dustin and Ryan; six friends who are chosen to become superheroes with unimaginable powers. Who soon learn that they must somehow defeat alien forces that are determined to take over the planet. Oh, and as if that’s not enough for this young group of new superheroes they also have to rescue their friend Rose who has been kidnapped and somehow track down a warrior who has gone missing as well. Gee, maybe in their down-time they can take up macramé, they don’t see to have enough to do.

So, now that you know the basic premise of the story without me spoiling anything; I’d like to take some time to talk about some of the things I really enjoyed while reading. The first being, the dialogue....it’s fun!

There are very few sci-fi novels I can think of that interject humor into dialogue effectively. Here however, Mr. Gallo does so successfully. It’s my guess though that he does this, because he can really relate to his characters. I suspect they may speak in a similar manner to their creator, and I think that’s great! The humor that is interjected within the exchanges between these friends really helped me connect to the characters as people. Can you imagine what it must be like to try to learn and master new super powers...in front of your friends? That’s a situation just rife with comical possibilities and Gallo certainly takes advantage of that.

So, who are my favorite characters? I’d have to say probably the brothers, Dustin and Sam. These two egomaniacs are definitely full of themselves but not in an off-putting way; they don’t take themselves too seriously. I often found myself laughing at them honestly, they were so.....relatable. But then I found all of the character relatable, these two just stick out as my favorites.

As for the pace of this story, I enjoyed that as well. It’s fast paced and the author jumps right into it from the beginning. There’s no time wasted.

Now, having said that I am also going to point out that there is a LOT of information thrown at the reader in a very short time, and at times this did cause me to disconnect from the story. I attribute this disconnect to a lack of backstory. Sometimes authors forget just how integral back story can be to a reader; it has the power to move the reader from feeling as though they are nothing more than a fly on the wall watching the action....to feeling as though they are participating in the action. This is something I would like to have seen more of in this story. So, room for improvement here.

Still, this book is a great debut effort from this young author. I found it enjoyable, fast-paced, and just unique enough to not be lumped into all of the other sci-fi books I’ve read, it stood out. It does have a Christian undertone to it, so if you pick that up as well...it’s not by mistake. I didn’t find this over-done though. I didn’t feel walloped over the head with it; there is merely a subtle presence that I think makes sense within this story.

This story belongs in one other genre as well, YA (Young Adult). Due to the young ages of the main characters I really feel this author is missing out by not marketing his book to a wider audience. There are puh-lenty of sparkly vampires, witches, werewolves etcetera in the YA market....but not enough good sci-fi books.

So “da-da-da-daaaaaaa”... that’s so much better with trumpets, “sigh”.

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely!

If you are a fan of sci-fi (I’m throwing that statement in for the author), I highly recommend you check this one out. I’m giving it 4 out of 5 stars. I have no doubt that this writer will only get better and better with time and can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.

The Shadowverse is a parallel universe, a shadow universe where energies of all kinds exist, a universe where dwelled Titan. Shadowverse, from which Titan first came to rule this universe and to which he had been banished by the Shadows, warriors of old. Shadowverse is joined to this universe by wormholes, the creators of which are unknown.

This is an action-packed sci-fi / time travel/ fantasy novel where the evil overlord, Titan, is resurrected and returned from the Shadowverse, by a creature renaming himself Solis. Solis assigned himself to Titan as the Voir. Solis's motive is obscure, perhaps he was bored, perhaps he longed for glory. Then the legendary Shadow warrior, Sonovan Lung, who was exiled by Titan, needs to be returned from banishment and lead our superheroes in battle to rescue their friend Rose from Titan and save the world from Justification with the abolition of free will.

What I enjoyed most were the protagonists, John, Ryan, Dustin and Sam, the depth of their friendship, their basic goodness and humanity, their banter and their ability to commit. The dialogue was funny, authentic and sharp.

About the plot, complicated with time travel, but flows well, fast and furious with moments of lightness and humour. As the blurb says, like many young people on the threshold of adult life, John felt there had to be something more, some thing of greatness waiting. Most young people subside into acceptance of the daily grind. But John and his close friends are suddenly singled out by the enigmatic 'Z' and endowed with complimentary super powers. Mastering their powers, joined by Jane and Rose (with their own special powers), they embark on an adventure to save the universe from Titan, whose agenda is to abolish free will and bring peace to the universe, on his terms. Titan is a character not a token bad guy. Sonovan Lung has his defects. Great characterisations.

Remind you of The Avengers: The Infinity War and End Game? There are a lot of references to action movies, Marvel comics and some slang expressions that may well confuse an audience not conversant. Also expressions like "lit" may well date. The role of Z was totally confusing: first endowing the heroes with powers and providing them with safety suits and then at times he appeared complicit with Titan, setting the heroes up to fall into a trap.

In summary: fun, fast paced and satisfying. Highly recommended for Young Adults and Older who love a fresh take on saving free will and thus the universe.