Book Ramblings: The Madness Underneath (Spoilers!)

Remember how I said over 7 seven days ago I'd post this later in the week? Past Katie, I love the way you lie.

Anyway, back to the book! Today I'm talking about Maureen Johnson's newest book, The Madness Underneath, the second book in the Shades of London series, and if you missed the warning in the title, this one has spoilers. I've hide the spoilery text below the cut, so just click on the "Read more" link below if you've already read the book (or want to be spoiled, I won't judge).

Before I read this book, I saw a spoiler that someone would die. I had a pretty good idea of who it was, with enough certainty that I can only imagine I accidentally read a spoiler somewhere and forgotten all about it. For some reason, I knew Stephen was going to die. And I was ok with that, mostly because it had been so long since I had read the first book in the series and the characters were no longer fresh in my head, but also because Stephen did not leave much of an impression on me. As far as I was concerned, as long as Jazza and Boo (and Rory of course) were safe, I couldn't be bothered to really care.

And then The Madness Underneath pulled a stunt I like to call a Dumbledore (there are several writing tactics I like to call a Dumbledore due to my seeing them first employed with Mister Albus himself, I should really find a better name to differentiate them all, but that's a task for another day) in which a book in a series makes a smaller role character get more of the spotlight throughout the current installment only to die at the end. It happened with Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (amongst other books), but this time I could see the process at work and it only confirmed my suspicion that Stephen was on his way out. And so even though all of Stephen's screen time allowed him to burrow into my heart, I was resigned to give him up. There could be no other reason for him getting all that screen time out of the blue.

And then, in the second to last chapter, Rory kissed Stephen.

And for one brief, shining moment, I thought Stephen might live. After all, becoming the new love interest would warrant more screen time, right? Especially if the girl just broke up with her first boyfriend, the audience is going to need convincing that the new beau is better.

And in less than five pages, he was in a coma. His fate was sealed, and I was heartbroken. I would say "am" instead of "was", but it's been two weeks since I finished it and I've already thrown myself into other books. The heartbreak Stephen's death caused me has ebbed, only to renew full force when book 3 comes out.

Well, that's it from me this time. I'll post again soon!

Happy reading,

Katie