Shadow Beasts

I’ll admit, I requested *Shadow Beasts* expecting another cutesy fantasy with more puns than plot. Boy, was I wrong. Steele’s writing has *teeth*—the humor is razor-sharp, the worldbuilding is immersive without drowning in lore, and Paige Turner is the kind of protagonist I’d follow into a haunted Dewey Decimal system. Her deadpan reactions to the town’s escalating weirdness (a sentient shadow named *Kevin*?) had me laughing out loud, but the story’s real strength is how it balances comedy with legitimate tension. The mystery of Shadow Harbor’s curse unfolds at a satisfying clip, though I’ll dock half a point for a mid-book lull where the subplots threaten to outpace the main conflict. Dana Allen’s narration is a masterclass in tonal range. She nails Paige’s exhausted wit, but the standout is her voicing of the library’s resident feline, whose monotone delivery of lines like *“I’ve seen humans do stupider things for less. It’s why we don’t trust you.”* had me rewinding just to laugh again. The production quality is polished, with ambient sounds (creaking shelves, distant howls) that enhance the atmosphere without distracting. My only critique? The pacing stumbles slightly in the final act, where a few reveals feel rushed compared to the meticulous buildup. Still, this is a fantasy that respects its audience’s intelligence—funny, creepy, and heartfelt in equal measure. If you love books about books, found-family dynamics with claws (literal and figurative), and heroines who’d rather research a problem than punch it, this is your next listen.