STAY IN THE LIGHT, by A.M. Shine, is the sequel to THE WATCHERS, and should be read AFTER that one in order to fully understand the premise.

While this novel takes place directly after the events of book one, I did find myself confused at times regarding certain characters in the beginning (simply having forgotten some of the previous events), and wish there had been a bit of a "recap" of some details--particularly concerning the Professor--in the beginning. However, those who have re-read, or read WATCHERS more recently likely won't have that issue.

In addition to Mina (and the "yellow one"), Madeline, and Ciara, the book focuses on Sean, son of the Professor who built the bunker in WATCHERS. Apparently, he knew nothing of his father's final days, but shared his passion for Changelings, and is about to dig up an entrance to what he believes may have been an underground "living place" for the species. This section was quite riveting in my opinion, as it really focused on the lore of the creatures, and fleshed out "what" they were--in theory, at least. I can't say that I "liked" any of the characters there, as they all were present for selfish reasons and seemingly cared little for anyone else's safety. However, that felt like the perfect way to characterize them.

In contrast, Mina and Ciara--living separately, but in contact daily--were unable to go back to "reality" truly after what they had been through. Knowing she was still being watched, Mina goes away in the hopes of finding peace, but things are really amping up with the Watchers.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this novel. The fast pacing kept me wanting to read more, and my initial confusion was swept away by the ongoing events. I will say that this felt like a "middle" book, and by the ending, I would be very surprised if the author doesn't have a book 3 planned out. (Which I would absolutely buy!)

Recommended.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance eCopy of this book. All opinions are my own.*

I loved The Watchers and was stoked for this sequel but also a bit apprehensive because sequels (as we all know) are fairly hit or miss. I also haven’t seen the film version yet, simply because I have a tendency to dislike film/tv adaptions unless a good bit of time has passed and I’ve forgotten the plot entirely.

Luckily, Stay in the Light delivers. We have some of the same characters from The Watchers, Mina, Ciara and Madeline are featured and some new players inserted. Sean Kilmartin is one of the new characters who is hellbent at proving his father’s lifelong research into changelings was not all for naught. He decides drilling into a hidden chamber deep in the Earth is her best course of action. Things don’t go quite as he planned. This storyline gives off vibes of one of my favorite horror genres which is CAVES. The Descent and As Above, So Below are two of my most well loved horror films, so the cave storyline was hair raising in the best way. Literal nightmare fuel.

Some complain the book starts off a bit slow but I didn’t find it that way. We’re not given much time before things get wonky and the parallel timelines make for a really solid buildup into the third act.

The third act goes hard. There definitely appears to be a third coming in the series and I’m looking forward to it. We’re definitely heading into apocalyptic horror and that’s another fun genre for me. I can’t wait to read more from Shine in the future.

Tense and suspenseful, this one grabbed hold of me at the start and didn't let go. I enjoyed this book more than the first book in the series, The Watchers, and from the ending, I get the sense that there will be another book. I enjoyed spending time in Mina's POV again as her battered character struggles to survive in a world where The Watchers are all around and searching for her. The audiobook narrated by Jacqueline Milne was so captivating. Fans of horror, especially creature horror, would enjoy this series. Thank you Bloomsbury US for the advanced ebook, and thank you libro.fm for the advanced audiobook.

It has been three years or so since I first read A.M. Shine’s The Watchers and while I remember enjoying it at first I couldn’t remember the specifics (and I’ve yet to get a chance to see the movie version), but once I started reading Stay in the Light it all came rushing back to me. Now if you haven’t read The Watchers, stop now and do that first as Stay in the Light picks up where that one ends. Some may disagree (and I honestly can understand their point of view) but for me I think I liked this one a little more than the original. After the events of the first book, Mina dealing with coming back society, the trauma, was it all even real? And what is happening now? Sorry if I’m being vague, but I really don’t want to include spoilers. This is an intense, atmospheric, and very unique horror novel. I’m hoping there will be a third book in the series, and if so that the wait for it won’t be long. I’d like to thank Bloomsbury USA | Head of Zeus and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of Stay in the Light.

https://www.amazon.com/review/RJ6TW2UFM0VND/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_SRTC0204BT_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

Stay in the Light, the chilling sequel to The Watchers, by A.M. Shine, is a follow-up book that builds on the terror and suspense of the first novel. The story continues to explore the horrifying consequences of straying into the shadows. Shine’s masterful pacing and atmospheric writing create a relentless tension that keeps readers on edge. However, I did like the first book better. Thank you to A.M Shine, Netgalley and Bloomsbury USA for this ARC.

Really enjoyed The Watchers and was excited when the second book was announced, maybe I went with high expectations but I felt this one added pretty much nothing to the story.
The only thing that peaked my interest was when we learned a little more backstory about the Watchers (about 80% into the book) and the ending was interesting, it definitely build some excitement for book 3.
I’m hoping the next book is more like book 1, looking forward to it.
Like always, this is just my opinion and if the story interests you please go ahead and give it a try!

3.25 Stars

I had high hopes for the follow-up to “The Watchers,” which was easily a 5-star read.

The narrative picks up shortly after the ending of book one.
Mina is isolated and hiding, fearing the changelings will continue coming for her.

Unbeknownst to her, Kilmartian has a son eagerly working on a secret project to further his father's work.

I honestly felt very neutral about this book. Before I read it, I knew I didn’t think it was necessary, but I was inquisitive to see the direction the story would take. And it was fine, but not really my preference.

The tone is shifting into more of an action-packed creature feature, whereas the first in the series is quietly unsettling and mysterious. “Stay in the Light” is a bit slow and transitional. I felt like the entire book was setting up a very different kind of story than the one I loved.

I will still be checking out the final(?) installment, but I unfortunately can't say I loved this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars rounded up!

first things first — you absolutely *have* to read the watchers (the first book in this excellent series) before you get anywhere near this one. stay in the light picks up right where the watchers ends, so there's no time to waste. you need the background information to proceed.

now, allow me to say that i whole-heartedly loved this story. it utilizes much of the same creeping dread as the first book, but manages to build it into something new and somehow just as good. where the first book worked well in ambiguity, this one excels with offering more lore and exposition to anchor yourself to. between the beautiful prose, irish folklore, and atmospheric thrills, i was fully immersed throughout. we get some complex new characters while still paying plenty of attention to our old favorites (i'm looking at you, yellow one 🐤).

my only complaint? i wish this book was a hundred pages longer!! the ending feels correct, but also over much too soon. i hope there's another sequel on the way. i have a feeling we're not done here yet.
 
thanks to head of zeus for the digital copy of this book on net galley in exchange for an honest review!

I'll be the odd one out who found this .....I missed both the first book and the movie and that no doubt contributed to my difficulty becoming engaged with either the characters or the plot. I may have DNF but I'm certain there is a wide and enthusiastic audience for this.

I had read The Watchers and absolutely loved it, so I was very curious to read this one! 🤔

To be honest, I think The Watchers might have been better off as a standalone, as it really was THAT good, but this one did have some good creepy moments that I enjoyed!! 🙌

Thank you to NetGalley, Head of Zeus, and A.M. Shine for the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for my honest review! ❤️

Thanks to NetGalley for my ARC

3.5⭐️

While this sequel felt unnecessary for me, it was still interesting to dive deeper into the lore of the Watchers. I will say that this felt like a middle book. I hope there's a book 3 to wrap up the story.

Great read! I’ve loved every book that I have read from this author. This was dark and really captivated me. Prefect for spooky season.

This is pretty different from the first book, which I enjoyed. It’s not contained to one mysterious location this time. Mina is pretty smart for the most part, but does make a couple of frustrating mistakes. (If you knew the truth about The Watchers, would you really expect people in authority to believe your story? Mina apparently does.) The overall premise of this sequel was not as interesting to me. Since we now essentially know what we're dealing with, the suspense isn't as strong. However, the parts of the story involving the creatures were good. Creepy, suspenseful and frightening. Those were by far the best scenes. The problem was, there weren't enough of them.

The writing itself was dense and a bit tough to follow. It felt like it was written specifically to sound good when read aloud, like the focus was mainly on how nicely the audiobook would flow. There were quite a few times that I had to go back and read a few sentences more than once because I didn’t quite understand what I just read. Shine also did something repeatedly that annoyed me just like it did in the first installment, formatting sentences like this: “Flanagan was seen to grin.” Why write like this? Just say that he grinned.

But, aside from the effective parts with the creatures themselves, I was also somewhat invested in Sean's storyline even if it was a bit weighed down by exposition in places. I also appreciated getting more insight into Madeline, and there were good details there. (Her appreciation for free water, the story behind her appearance, etc.) She's an interesting and complex character, and her interactions with everyone else were great, too.

I like pretty much anything that involves doppelgangers or a being that can shapeshift/mimic someone's appearance, so the concept of The Watchers is very cool to me. I think this story went a little TOO deep into their backstory, though, if you can believe it. Sometimes I like a monster more when I know less about it. The third act suffered a little bit from Villain monologuing, as well, which always bothers me and lessens the impact of a good reveal.

I guessed part of the ending but there were some nice surprises that I wasn't expecting. I'll probably read part 3 just to see what happens. (Yes, there was set-up for another one!)

One request, though. I am BEGGING you, Mina: Just give your damn parrot an actual name. I can't read "The Yellow One" again. If you're going to lug a giant cage with you everywhere you owe it to him to give him a moniker.

3.5 Stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review an advanced copy of this novel. I highly enjoyed it and will be recommending it to others.

I absolutely loved the book "The Watchers", so I was extremely excited to start this book, especially considering how the last one ended. I was not disappointed! In fact, I actually think I may have enjoyed this book a bit more than the first. I love how Mina is looking for the others as well as not being believed by anyone about what is going on. Granted, it does seem farfetched, but I was clearly rooting for her to make people aware. I especially recommend this for your spooky season TBR!

I picked up my first AM Shine book in the Dublin airport. “Stay in the Light” is a great sequel to “The Watchers.” The less you know going into this one, the better. Can’t wait for his next book.

First and foremost, I *adore* A.M. Shine. His books are masterfully crafted Gothic horror classics, enriched with captivating elements of Irish lore.

Having thoroughly enjoyed “The Watchers,” I was eager to see how the group would fare upon their return to civilization in “Stay in the Light.” The book begins with Mina, who is understandably traumatized by her experiences in the woodlands. However, I felt that the first part of the book dwelled too much on her trauma, making it slow-moving.

Once Mina’s hibernation phase was over, the storyline picked up significantly. The tension surrounding Sean’s anticipated actions was masterfully built, keeping me on the edge of my seat. The inclusion of mythological stories as hypotheses for the construction of the stone caverns added a fascinating layer to the narrative.

***Spoiler Alert***: The book features two major twists. While I found the first twist to be somewhat predictable, the second twist was truly spectacular and took me by surprise.

The ending hints at a potential third book. However, I feel that the story has reached its natural conclusion and doesn’t need further continuation. Overall, “Stay in the Light” was an engaging read, despite its slow start.

ARC by NetGalley and the publisher.
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 Let me start this review with a warning that this may contain spoilers for the first book in the series, The Watchers as this book takes place after the ending events of the previous book.

I truly enjoyed reading The Watchers and I have to say as a sequel this was just as incredibly engrossing and creepy. Stay in the Light’s plot takes place one month after Mina has survived her ordeal with the Watchers, only to now be left hyper vigilant to every person she comes in contact with. And for good reason, for just as the Watchers powers begin to grow people begin to disappear forcing Mina to confront the horrors she just escaped. While this sequel takes the reader back into this twisted world following Mina, Ciara, and Madeline it differs from its predecessor in the fact that we are now spread out over multiple story locations rather than just the woodland forest one. Pacing wise the multiple locations do cause for a bit of a slower go, as you watch these characters acclimate to their new normal. However, this allowed the author to build amazing tension that had me holding my breath many times. Although this lacks the element of mystery that the first book had surrounding the Watchers, we are instead given a greater expansion on their mythology/history which I really loved unraveling. Honestly I found the Watchers to be even creepier in this book, so the mysterious “who are they” element wasn’t something I personally missed. And while the first half was slower the second half most definitely makes up for this. The ending is something I could see being a point of contention tho, it’s one of those you either love it or hate it kind of ones. I myself enjoyed the ending and as it seems there may even be a third installment. Overall this was a highly effective sequel and I absolutely recommend this series to horror fans and anyone wanting a bit of introduction into the creepy side of Irish folklore.

Stay in the Light comes out October 22nd, 2024.

Thank you NetGalley and Head of Zeus for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Book one spoilers below, don’t read unless you’ve read the first book.

This was SO damn good, far better than I was expecting it to be honestly. If you were like me and had qualms about reading book 2, read it. I was hesitant at first too! I was expecting this to be an unnecessary sequel and almost didn’t read it, but I’m really glad that I did because the blurb really doesn’t do this book justice.

So, I read The Watchers back in 2021 and what made it memorable for me was the mystery aspect of it all. The whole, what is the explanation behind it all and how are they going to escape. My worry going into this sequel was with the mystery aspect being taken out because everything was revealed in the first book, would that take away that urgency in the sequel and make it less tense and scary? Now that we know the secret behind it all being changelings, now what? I had qualms that this would become a thing where the sequel isn’t scary or interesting because the big reveal is gone. But, if anyone else who read book one has similar worries like I did, this sequel is DEFINITELY worth the read. Once you get to about 40% in, the book is unputdownable.

The book starts with an archeological excavation revealing a find at the Burren, a historically significant series of tombs in Ireland that have been around for thousands of years. Underneath the stone is a system of caves that have never been explored, and researchers made the discovery of a man made vertical shaft that connects the surface to a hidden cavern. A shaft that clearly was not supposed to be found. So they fly a drone into the caves and find deep markings on the walls, written in the ancient language of Ogham. And upon further discovery, stairs going deeper into the cave system. but of course, when they try to fly the drone down the stairs, it loses power for no reason when it all should be operating normally, so it looks like they’re going down into the caves themselves. And of course, even after hearing creepy voices coming from the shaft, they still are gonna go down there because it’s probably just “the wind”. More creepy stuff happens, more people hearing strange things, yet they still plan to explore the caves. After reading that part, I was hooked and couldn’t put the book down. I eventually had to stop reading to go to sleep and it was HARD. This is definitely a one sitting type of book. I was not expecting this book to go into the Irish mythology route, which is something I am not familiar with at all, but the mythology of this book is based on actual Irish folklore. I looked some of the stuff up as I was reading and had zero clue that according to Irish mythology, the origins of fairies stem from a mythical race that was one of the first tribes to arrive in Ireland. This book made me realize how little I know about Irish folklore but the root of what these changelings are in this book is based on actual Irish mythology.

I also wasn’t expecting this book to be scary at all but it actually was kind of creepy! I don’t think the blurb does the book justice because it sounds so uninteresting and barely like it would be horror, but the actual book is so much better than the blurb and has a lot more to it than advertised. So I’d say, if you liked book one, you’d like this too! It’s also a super fast read, and felt more like 200 pages than 300 which is a good thing.

Thank you to Netgalley for sending me an advanced copy in return for my honest review.

A fantastic read for those who loved the watchers. I appreciate the continual story and can’t wait for book 3