Merikan’s series gets even stranger (in a good way) as Gray makes a pact with the creature of the house. His shadow must inhabit the body of someone long dead and ‘feed’ the trees for 3 consecutive moons. The imagination and character building in this story is fantastic. We see the quiet, introverted, almost reclusive yet lethal Gray’s innermost thoughts, feelings and fears change through the book with the introduction of his personified shadow. Loss of his arm mimics the pain of losing his twin several years previous. What I initially thought as creepy and unbelievable soon became a very unique and interesting twist on reality. Shadow’s personality, thoughts, feelings, depth of physical and emotional growth are stunningly presented. I’m not one for much angst, but in the beginning of the book he was quite a hand-wringer. He settled down, but those hormones and churning need to be one with his person again made the chemistry off the charts in a way you don’t normally see in creeptastic fiction. The story verges on being so intimate one could almost call it sappy, if not for the bold innocence of Shadow’s simple statements of love. By the end of the book, I was totally routing for Shadow and Gray, the world be damned- literally! Joel Leslie is awesome- puts just enough whine into Shadow’s lightly British accent when needed, but not so much as to make you want to go mad. The un-bodied version of Shadow’s voice is sufficiently chilling and shudder-worthy. Each of the club members has their own personality and voice, kept true through the series- something very few narrators do well, but Leslie exceeds all expectations!