For the first time in a long time, Darius learns to love himself no matter what external forces attempt to squash his confidence. Sohrab teaches Darius what friendship is really about: loyalty, honesty, and someone who has your back in a football (soccer) match. But all that changes when Darius meets Sohrab, a Bahá’í boy, in Yazd. When he arrives in Iran, learning to play the Persian card game Rook, socializing, and celebrating Nowruz with a family he had never properly met before is all overwhelming and leaves Darius wondering if he’ll ever truly belong anywhere. He’s mocked for his name and nerdy interests at Chapel Hill High School in Portland, Oregon, and doesn’t speak enough Farsi to communicate with his Iranian relatives either. Iranian on his mother’s side and white American on his father’s side, Darius never quite fits in. When Darius’ grandfather becomes terminally ill, Darius, along with his parents and younger sister, travels to Iran for the first time in his life. The author builds an engaging world, similar to the real Chicago but different enough to tantalize and keep interest high.ĭarius Kellner suffers from depression, bullying by high school jocks, and a father who seems to always be disappointed in him. Nicely drawn Darcy comes across as a fully developed human, however intriguing her paranormal abilities. After the long buildup to the climax, however, the solution seems a bit too easy. Alfred Prufrock” throughout the narrative, tying many of Darcy’s insights to the poem. Rutkoski weaves an extended discussion of “The Love Song of J. Mostly, she wants to learn about her past and find a portal back to the old Chicago where she can continue her normal life. Caught between the human and Shade factions, Darcy has trouble deciding where her loyalties should lie. Darcy’s species, Shades, can make themselves invisible, and they have been at war with humans for centuries. She finds Conn extremely attractive, but she comes to hate him when he kidnaps her into an alternate-dimension Chicago where society despises and hunts creatures of her kind. She hopes to become an artist, but everything goes off the tracks when a charismatic new boy arrives at school and asks to work with her on an assignment. She’s always shifted from one foster family to another. In a multidimensional Chicago, Darcy learns that she isn’t really human after all.Ībandoned at age 5, Darcy can’t remember anything about her early life.

The shadow society by marie rutkoski