Paranormalcy: 12/16/12

Evie is a teen who both works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency and is in a weird way a ward of the IPCA. She can see through paranormal glamours and that gives her an advantage but she still sees herself as normal. A recent set of deaths among the paranormals, though, forces Evie to rethink her place in life.

I can't remember who recommended Paranormalcy by Kiersten White to me but I resisted for a long time. I was put off by the pretty girl in the flowing dress on the cover. Turns out the cover has nothing to do with the plot. Evie is a strong, modern and independent teen. She is probably less girly than Buffy and she's not wasting her time with love triangles.

My favorite part of the book was how clearly White outlined the rules of dealing with Faeries. While the IPAC thinks they have everything sorted out and can safely take advantage of Faerie powers, Evie knows otherwise. Her wariness makes her interesting and helps build suspense as she is forced from time to time to work with Faeries.

The plot itself is a good mix of mystery and fantasy. The mystery part of it had me guessing in some parts. The fantasy was blended well with the contemporary elements to not be jarring or tacked on.

I have the second book, Supernaturally on my wishlist. There's also a third book, Endlessly which came out this year.

Four stars

Comments (4)

Comment #1: Sunday, December 16, 2012 at 23:55:10

Bookworm1858

I loved this first book so much-its sense of humor was welcome in the often dour YA paranormal category. However I didn't think the second or third books were that good-just so you know!

Comment #2: Sunday, December 16, 2012 at 22:39:23

Pussreboots

That's what I've heard but I'm still going to give the second one a try.

Comment #3: Tuesday, December 25, 2012 at 20:47:34

MarthaE

Hi - I hope you are having a grand holiday time with family!
I have thought about reading this one. I'm just not a huge YA fan although some have pleasantly surprised me. Maybe this one would. :-)

Comment #4: Wednesday, January 09, 2013 at 18:00:04

Pussreboots

We had a great time over the holidays. I'm also not much of a YA reader but I liked this one. I am planning to continue with the series.