What is The Mediator: Shadowland about?

Question

I was thinking about buying The Mediator: Shadowland by Meg Cabot for my niece's birthday. She is thirteen, and into ghost stories. I only know that the book is about ghosts. My sister is very specific, and if the book fails to meet her standards, I will be ridiculed for buying it for her. I looked at like Amazon and other websites, but the summary was very brief. Can anyone give me a detailed summary on what the book is about?

Answer 1

Shadowland is the first book of this series (there are 6 total). It introduces you to the main character, Susannah (Suze) Simon a sixteen year old girl. She explains that she is a mediator-someone who can see, speak to, and touch ghosts and her job is to help these ghosts "resolve their unfinished business with the living"



Her dad died when she was young, and that is when she found out that she was this mediator. She had never really understood it before until her dad had come back to explain it to her. So now, she's sixteen, and she's moved to California to be with her mom and her new step dad and his sons. The house they are living in is old, and when Suze moves into her new room, she finds it is already occupied by a "hot ghost" named Jesse. Throughout the book, Suze deals with sharing this room with Jesse.



When Suze goes to her new school, a Catholic school, with a "Father" as principal, she finds that he too is a mediator. Since the school was very old, Suze had expected to be very busy trying to move ghosts on to their next life, however when she found out that Father Dominic was a mediator too, she realized the reason for the lack of ghosts.



The main part of the story is that a girl from the school has died, and she is seeking revenge. She was one of those mean popular girls I guess you could say. If I remember correctly, I think the dead girl is in denial that she is dead and Suze and Father Dominic are trying to get her to move on, but she has a temper and is causing havoc on the school because she doesn't feel like people are grieving enough and she doesn't deserve to be dead.



I don't really want to get into it more, and possibly ruin the book. However, along the way Suze has more encounters with Jesse and I think she tries to figure out why he has been around so long while dealing with the crazy dead girl in the process.



I think your neice will like this book, it has a combination of action, romance, and it's about a strong female character =) Hopefully you won't be ridiculed by your sister...Good luck!



I'll leave you the link for Meg Cabot's website where you can read the first chapter of the book and peek at the rest of the books in the series.

Answer 2

Its the first in a series, and according to Amazon, there are a total of four books out so far. I can't tell by just looking if its an open-ended series. But I do know I plan to buy more of them.



This isn't a kids book written for adults. Most adults probably wouldn't have the patience for the writing style, although the style is one of the things I like about it. The book is written in first person vernacular, like Suze is talking to the reader directly. Its the style I use, all too often, and I have a fondness for it. It reads like I could be reading it out loud and I can hear her voice in my head. I like that.



The style of the book definitely trades on the popularity of Buffy. There's this girl -- Suze -- and she's a Mediator. That means she can speak with the dead. Hells, she can talk to them, touch them, and even "kick ghost butt" when necessary. What she's supposed to do is help them find their way to the other side. But Suze (rather like Buffy) has gone all alone for the first 16 years of her life. She had no help, no one to teach her how to deal with this gift. So she's developed her own techniques.



Now she's moved from New York City to San Jose, because her mother has gotten married. And suddenly there's a priest at her school who knows exactly what she is. And three step-brothers becoming involved in her life. Not to mention Jesse, the *really* cute ghost with the amazing six-pack who just happens to reside in her room. Suddenly life is different for Suze, but the ghosts are still there. And Heather, who died not long before Suze arrived at the Mission school, can't stand her.



The book reads quickly, and I can see the episodic nature (meet ghost, fight or fix with ghost, get them to the other side) and the relationships forming. There's Jesse, the ghost. Her step-brothers (I rather like Sleepy, even with the little we've seen of him, and I especially like Doc). The not so popular kids at school, and the popular ones. Yes, very reminiscent of Buffy. But in a good way, and enjoyably done.

Answer 3

Helen Simon-Ackerman. And its published under Meg Cabot.