Check out my blog - theanxiousbookworm.video.blog - for a bonus Q&A with William Shaw

“The thing about growing up is learning who you care for”

Welcome to my stop on the Deadland blog tour. I was kindly sent this book to review by Quercus Books and given this wonderful opportunity, thank you so much guys.

Deadland is the first William Shaw book that I have read, when I was asked to partake in this blog tour I was apprehensive as this is the second book in the series. I was reassured by the publisher that it would not matter and this book could be read as a stand-alone, I am so glad that I listened as this was such a fantastic book. Deadland is so unique compared to other crime related books that I have read in many different ways; ways in which I will discuss in this review.

This crime mystery, instead of being fast-paced was a slow burn for me. However, I feel like this was a really positive aspect of the plot. It had me hooked, I was slowly drip fed information to which I could build theories (none of which were right, might I add) gradually. In between this I was able to really get to know the characters. William does fantastically when it comes to developing characters, I felt a real connection to many of them throughout the book and it could be seen that a lot of time and care was put into them. My particular favourites were Sloth and Tap, I loved watching their friendship grow and learning about the under-class social backgrounds that they have derived from. I found it really interesting and was really eye opening to how the under priviledged lived. Never have I felt such strong emotions towards a criminal character, however these guys really pulled at my heartstrings and I absolutely loved that some of the story was told from their POV.

I also loved Ferriter as a character. A really important theme of consent in relation to sexual intercourse was explored with her character. A theme that I believe is slightly blurred within society; a big part of my work is dealing with this kind of theme and therefore I was very interested and pleased with how William portrayed this through the eyes of one of his characters. I really liked watching her develop, blaming herself to the realisation that what happened was wrong and in no way is she to blame. She was another character that I really felt for, I really enjoyed getting to know her and also eventually getting to know her background. What a strong independent female character, this really was the cherry on top of an already fantastic book. Other important themes that were touched upon within this book were critical incidents such as Grenfell and also same sex relationships. All of which I feel are very important and was humbled to see that they had a part in this story.

If all of the above is not already good enough, William Shaw is most definitely a Harry Potter fan. Throughout reading Deadland I noticed the subtle Harry Potter references. I happen to know that William is also a Hufflepuff (the best house ever), check out my Q&A at the bottom of this post for more information.

Honestly, I would really recommend that all who read this review should pick this book up. It was such a good read, something to really get your teeth into. There is so much going on and so many fantastic qualities, so much so that I am confident you will not regret picking it up. Since reading this book I have already picked up the other two books in this world so that I can dive straight back in.