I was drawn to buy this book because I recently wrote a novel where a girl was accused of being a witch, and I published a novel with a sorceress in it. I also wrote one about a wizard. That explains my interest. The clincher was the author's name, Jame Patterson. Below his name was the co-writer, Gabrielle Charbonnet. It is a 2009 release in hardcover.
James Patterson is a well known and accomplished writer; however, he does not write everything that is released with his name on the cover. He uses co-writers, and according to an interview I read with him, he sometimes just comes up with the concept for the story and provides a brief outline and guidance. I doubt if he had more than that to do with this juvinile tome. It reads as if it were written by a fourteen or fifteen year old girl; her first effort after a writing class or two. The story line is jerky and sometimes nonsensical, the action badly handled, and the dialog forced. If a chapter or two of this had been presented for critique at a writers' group to which I belong, it would have been roundly thrashed in a good hearted and helpful way designed to help this poor writer.
I realized as soon as I began reading that this was amateurish, and probably aimed at twelve to fifteen year old, female readers. They may actually enjoy it. I also sometimes write for that age group, but I never write down to them as she has. I believe that if you write for young people, you should respect their intelligence. But, that's just my view and style.
If it sounds like I am being unreasonably harsh in my review of this novel, it is simply because I know there are a lot of really good writers out there, with really well done and interesting novels, that can not even get an agent of editor to look at their work. The publishing industry is in a tight spot now, and if you do not have an inside contact or sponsor, it is amost impossible to get your foot in the door. This weak effort would never have made it past the query letter stage, or a chapter reading by an agent of publisher, without James Patterson's name on it.
I promised myself that I would always be honest and fair if my reviews, and this is the first one where I have been so critical about a work, but whether my opinion of it sounds fair or not, it is my honest opinion. Till next time, keep reading and writing. Best wishes, Troy D. Young
Showing posts with label book review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book review. Show all posts
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Dean Koontz Breathless
Admitedly, Dean Koontz is currently my favorite author. He is, to his chagrin, most often refered to as a horor writer. This is a misnomer, for although he has writen in that genre extensively, a large number of his novels contain little or no horor or supernatural aspects. The one thing you can count on when reading Koontz is that he seldom fails to fulfill your expectations. Another thing you can almost always count on is a dog involved heavily in the action, usually a Golden Retriever.
His latest release in hardback is Breathless, and yes it does involve a dog in the plot, but this time an Irish Wolfhound. It is set in the Rockies and the main character is Grady Adams, a mid-thirties former Military sniper who wants nothing but peace and tranquility in his cabin, miles from the nearest town. It begins with he and his dog traipsing through the woods on their daily walk. As they enter a clearing, they see two strange animals cavorting in the grass. They are about the size of a six year old child, snow white, and furry, with flat, almost humanoid faces. They stare at him seemingly unafraid, and the disappear into the woods.
Later they approach his cabin and gradually aquaint themselve with him and his dog, Merlin. Grady calls Camilla Rivers, a local veterinarian, who comes to see if she can identify the species. She can not. Eventually the government, Homeland Security, gets wind of the animals and descends upont Grady's cabin like it was a terrorist camp. The action is mild, and the lesson Koontz tries to imply is current with todays culture. I always enjoy his novels, and this one was no exception, but I must admit I was slightly disappointed in one thing; I felt the story was too short at 337 pages. That does not sound short, but in hardback with double spacing between the lines, it was just a fast read. I felt he could have done more with the plot line, and the conclusion, while believable, seemed too simple and left me wanting more. Maybe I am just too picky, huh?
Anyway, it is a great read and worth you time. Enjoy.
Troy D. Young
His latest release in hardback is Breathless, and yes it does involve a dog in the plot, but this time an Irish Wolfhound. It is set in the Rockies and the main character is Grady Adams, a mid-thirties former Military sniper who wants nothing but peace and tranquility in his cabin, miles from the nearest town. It begins with he and his dog traipsing through the woods on their daily walk. As they enter a clearing, they see two strange animals cavorting in the grass. They are about the size of a six year old child, snow white, and furry, with flat, almost humanoid faces. They stare at him seemingly unafraid, and the disappear into the woods.
Later they approach his cabin and gradually aquaint themselve with him and his dog, Merlin. Grady calls Camilla Rivers, a local veterinarian, who comes to see if she can identify the species. She can not. Eventually the government, Homeland Security, gets wind of the animals and descends upont Grady's cabin like it was a terrorist camp. The action is mild, and the lesson Koontz tries to imply is current with todays culture. I always enjoy his novels, and this one was no exception, but I must admit I was slightly disappointed in one thing; I felt the story was too short at 337 pages. That does not sound short, but in hardback with double spacing between the lines, it was just a fast read. I felt he could have done more with the plot line, and the conclusion, while believable, seemed too simple and left me wanting more. Maybe I am just too picky, huh?
Anyway, it is a great read and worth you time. Enjoy.
Troy D. Young
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Book Review: Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Orphaned kids, Pirate ships with huge brassieres for sails, near escapes, giant flying crocodiles, shipwrecks, mermaids with sharp teeth, massive storms, belch humor, talking porpoises, and bashing the bad guys with coconuts.
What more could you ask?
Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson have melded together a wonderful midgrade action fantasy that serves as a long-past prequel for J.M. Barrie's 1911 Peter Pan and Wendy. (Okay, that novel had a few names and I'm using the middle one. Sue me.)
Peter and the Starcatchers begins with five orphan boys being loaded onto a nasty little cargo ship called the Never Land. The oldest is named Peter, and he is the oldest by his own fiat -- any time another boy arrived at the orphanage who claimed to be older, Peter would age-jump until Peter was again the oldest.
Also coming aboard that old ship is a mysterious cargo trunk that seems to affect everyone who gets near it with a strange form of euphoria, and a young girl named Molly, who reacts to Peter's age-jumping in the following scene:
And there you have the beginning of young love and a massive struggle for survival on the high seas.
Not only are they trapped on a ship run by a very nasty first mate, but their ship is (in good time) about to be set upon by the meanest and scariest pirate on the seven seas, Black Mustache. (Apparently all the Beard color names were taken.) Stache, in the tradition of fine comic villains, has an extremely disposable crew who are highly trained not to think, so that he can order them to do suicidal things and get immediate compliance. For instance, he and a dozen men are being swept out to sea holding onto the sides of a capsized long boat. His only chance, he decides, is to have half the men let go so that the other half can right the boat and bail it. Who cares if the first half drown? He orders it done, and forces compliance.
The men who let go, it turns out, can stand up in the shallow water.
Once they are all back on land, Stache quickly convinces them all that they would be dead if he had not given them that order. And it's true, in a goofy sort of way, so it works, and they again begin responding to his orders.
Now, aside from the fact that the supporting characters are acknowledged "idjits", none of the main characters are. The major characters in this book act in their own best interests, and to the best of their knowledge and abilities. This means that often the characters are attempting things that *should* work, even if they don't happen to. And I won't even begin to describe how many sides there are to the final brawl for the treasure -- for a hint, think Peter Pan's island - mermaids, natives, pirates, Lost Boys, plus the two different sides that seek worldwide control of the magical starstuff, "the Others" and "the Starcatchers".
I absolutely adore this book, and am looking forward to the next two in the series.
What more could you ask?
Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson have melded together a wonderful midgrade action fantasy that serves as a long-past prequel for J.M. Barrie's 1911 Peter Pan and Wendy. (Okay, that novel had a few names and I'm using the middle one. Sue me.)
Peter and the Starcatchers begins with five orphan boys being loaded onto a nasty little cargo ship called the Never Land. The oldest is named Peter, and he is the oldest by his own fiat -- any time another boy arrived at the orphanage who claimed to be older, Peter would age-jump until Peter was again the oldest.
Also coming aboard that old ship is a mysterious cargo trunk that seems to affect everyone who gets near it with a strange form of euphoria, and a young girl named Molly, who reacts to Peter's age-jumping in the following scene:
"Well, Mr. Peter Nobody," said Molly. "Do you know how old you are?"
"How old are you?" said Peter.
"I'm twelve," said Molly.
"I'm thirteen," said Peter.
"Wait," said Molly, "I just remembered. Today is my birthday, I'm fourteen."
Peter frowned. "Wait," he said, "if you were twelve, and today is your birthday, you'd be thirteen."
"Not in my family," said Molly. "In my family, we only celebrate even-numbered birthdays."
Peter was impressed, he'd never thought of that.
"I just remembered something myself," he said. "Today is also my birthday, and I am now." he paused dramatically- "sixteen."
"No," said Molly, "Too much. I'll accept fourteen. We'll both be fourteen."
Peter thought about it.
"All right then," he said. "Fourteen."
And there you have the beginning of young love and a massive struggle for survival on the high seas.
Not only are they trapped on a ship run by a very nasty first mate, but their ship is (in good time) about to be set upon by the meanest and scariest pirate on the seven seas, Black Mustache. (Apparently all the Beard color names were taken.) Stache, in the tradition of fine comic villains, has an extremely disposable crew who are highly trained not to think, so that he can order them to do suicidal things and get immediate compliance. For instance, he and a dozen men are being swept out to sea holding onto the sides of a capsized long boat. His only chance, he decides, is to have half the men let go so that the other half can right the boat and bail it. Who cares if the first half drown? He orders it done, and forces compliance.
The men who let go, it turns out, can stand up in the shallow water.
Once they are all back on land, Stache quickly convinces them all that they would be dead if he had not given them that order. And it's true, in a goofy sort of way, so it works, and they again begin responding to his orders.
"Pirates," Stache thinks. "It's a good thing they're idjits."
Now, aside from the fact that the supporting characters are acknowledged "idjits", none of the main characters are. The major characters in this book act in their own best interests, and to the best of their knowledge and abilities. This means that often the characters are attempting things that *should* work, even if they don't happen to. And I won't even begin to describe how many sides there are to the final brawl for the treasure -- for a hint, think Peter Pan's island - mermaids, natives, pirates, Lost Boys, plus the two different sides that seek worldwide control of the magical starstuff, "the Others" and "the Starcatchers".
I absolutely adore this book, and am looking forward to the next two in the series.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Book Review: The Patriot Witch by CC Finlay
What does it mean when you get a free PDF download of a book, and you feel like you have to buy a physical copy just to tear it up?
It means it's a damn good read.
C.C. Finlay's The Patriot Witch is one such book.
This book is about a single thing, against a backdrop of the first throes of the American Revolution, but you really can't tell what that one thing is until the book is over. And I'm not going to spoil it for you. On the other hand, I will tell you some things about it.
The book starts starts with an elegant mini-arc about a young man named Proctor Brown, in love with a young woman and trying to get her father's approval. In the middle of this, he's assaulted by a British officer, Major Pitcairn, who appears to be invulnerable to attack. Only Proctor Brown, with a special sight, appears to be aware that the major is wearing a protective medallion. So only Proctor Brown, a member of the colonial minutemen, may hold the key to defeating him.
From there, Proctor is off spinning into a world from which his mother had tried to protect him by keeping him ignorant, a world filled with real witches fighting for real power -- and fighting both for and against the British Empire. Crosses and double crosses, warnings and auguries, spells of increasing power and complexity, and the search for the British witch-master who is attempting to fell the American Revolution with evil spells before it grows to shade the Empire. Each mini-arc changes the nature of the story, even while it moves the story forward towards its inevitable conclusion.
This book is a "secret history", rather than an alternate history. Even if it all happened this way, we would still think what we do about those events. But within that shell, Charles Coleman Finlay has produced an excellent novel here, filled with real people and real struggle and pain, and I'll be proud to pay for a copy when it goes on sale April 28th -- so I can tear it apart and see how he did it.
In the meantime, get your free copy here at scribd or here on Finlay's home page. Or preorder on Amazon - it's that good.
It means it's a damn good read.
C.C. Finlay's The Patriot Witch is one such book.
This book is about a single thing, against a backdrop of the first throes of the American Revolution, but you really can't tell what that one thing is until the book is over. And I'm not going to spoil it for you. On the other hand, I will tell you some things about it.
The book starts starts with an elegant mini-arc about a young man named Proctor Brown, in love with a young woman and trying to get her father's approval. In the middle of this, he's assaulted by a British officer, Major Pitcairn, who appears to be invulnerable to attack. Only Proctor Brown, with a special sight, appears to be aware that the major is wearing a protective medallion. So only Proctor Brown, a member of the colonial minutemen, may hold the key to defeating him.
From there, Proctor is off spinning into a world from which his mother had tried to protect him by keeping him ignorant, a world filled with real witches fighting for real power -- and fighting both for and against the British Empire. Crosses and double crosses, warnings and auguries, spells of increasing power and complexity, and the search for the British witch-master who is attempting to fell the American Revolution with evil spells before it grows to shade the Empire. Each mini-arc changes the nature of the story, even while it moves the story forward towards its inevitable conclusion.
This book is a "secret history", rather than an alternate history. Even if it all happened this way, we would still think what we do about those events. But within that shell, Charles Coleman Finlay has produced an excellent novel here, filled with real people and real struggle and pain, and I'll be proud to pay for a copy when it goes on sale April 28th -- so I can tear it apart and see how he did it.
In the meantime, get your free copy here at scribd or here on Finlay's home page. Or preorder on Amazon - it's that good.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Book Review: Modern Magic by Anne Cordwainer
So, this is a review of the promising first novel ... err, collection of short stories... Errr, anyone for "cycle"? Modern Magic, by Anne Cordwainer. Can you tell that terminology is going to be a problem here?
This is a novel in the sense that Asimov's Foundation is a novel - a book-length work of prose fiction on a single subject, that happens to be written in the form of short stories. Garnering praise by "everyone from Piers Anthony down to some guy on the internet", as the press packet from Clotho Press jokes, Modern Magic is a very strong work by freshman writer Cordwainer.
Let's pop in that Piers Anthony quote here, shall we?
I was excited to hear Cordwainer's book was being published, since I was an early reviewer of some segments on the critters critique site a few years back, and I remembered it fondly and with anticipation. When she contacted me about her book launch, the people and the situation from the first movement of the cycle surged back into my head. Ummm... "First story"?
Or is that "first episode"? Whatever it's called.
I started reading the ARC as soon as it arrived, around two-thirty on Friday afternoon. I am happy to report that my bladder did not explode, and I finished the book just before the clock clicked over to Saturday.
Being an ARC, the layout looked a little odd to me, and there were a couple of minor language clunks in the first two stories, but by the middle of the third movement the narrative drive was pulling me along, my pulse was thudding and I was wondering what the heck was driving events in this magical world.
Liz Prospero, the "non-magical girl" in Piers Anthony's quote above, is doing the best she can to live a nonmagical life, but keeps being pulled into fights with renegade or insane sorcerors who, coincidentally, seem to wreck every chance her boyfriend has to meet her family. Sometimes tense, sometimes comical, but intensely realistic interaction between sister, brother and boyfriend on the subjects of ethics, society, their relationships and lives paint the issues both large and small against the backdrop of crisis after crisis.
It seldom slows down.
Meanwhile, her brother John is thrust into leading the Prospero family's traditional duties of tracking down these renegades and insane sorcerors -- who seem to be becoming more numerous every year -- catching them, and turning them over to their families for control and safekeeping. Even as magical technology is advancing geometrically, the social system is under stress from increasing numbers of these sorcerous breakdowns, and finally an organized group of criminal sorcerors starts a murder spree in Houston.
From that point I dare you to put the book down. I double dare you.
The work's not perfect, the page layout is a little odd, and you can argue with the editing of any particular section of the book. For instance, when what later is known as the Houston Horror is well under way, the narrative swerves away from the action to follow a refugee family to Liz's apartment in New York. As a short story, this writer decision fails utterly, but as part of a story cycle, it adds something. This kind of decision by Cordwainer is what pulls the book together as a whole - sacrifice the integrity of a "story" to the integrity of the cycle.
This book could have been structured other ways, for example as a generational novel, by avoiding the positive resolutions that are typical (but not guaranteed) of each story. Lots of other decisions could have been made.
I can't find the quote I want. I thought it was Paul Simon who responded to a "compliment" that, as good as his song lyrics were, he should be a poet. He replied that he was a songwriter because he subordinated the words to the needs of the song. This is the sign of a professional, and part of what makes the feel of Modern Magic unique. Yes, it's a collection of short stories, and yes, it's a novel of sorts, but the overarching narrative drive of the "story cycle" is a form of its own.
Cordwainer has made the decision to place five of the twelve movements online at her site, which gives you plenty enough time to get involved in the world and the people. It's urban fantasy without weres or vampires or squick, so try it out and see whether it works for you. For prose style, think Piers Anthony or Zelazny, but not quite as lush, since both the first-person protagonists are pretty down-to-earth people, although with clear viewpoints of their own.
This format should work well for people who, like me, prefer short fiction, and prefer to be able to pick up a book and put it down again feeling satisfied at reasonable intervals. Unfortunately, interest in the driving mystery of the second half of the book is going to lead you to be unable to do that.
Sorry, you'll just have to live with it.
If you're interested, Cordwainer has a launch party coming up February 15. If you buy the book before then, you get a password and access to great stuff.
And, don't worry what the book needs to be labeled. Just read it.
This is a novel in the sense that Asimov's Foundation is a novel - a book-length work of prose fiction on a single subject, that happens to be written in the form of short stories. Garnering praise by "everyone from Piers Anthony down to some guy on the internet", as the press packet from Clotho Press jokes, Modern Magic is a very strong work by freshman writer Cordwainer.
Let's pop in that Piers Anthony quote here, shall we?
"I love it! The magic framework is well worked out, the writing is apt, and the crises are scary. The manner a non-magical girl relates to her magical family, especially her brother, is effective... overall, this is a fun novel."
I was excited to hear Cordwainer's book was being published, since I was an early reviewer of some segments on the critters critique site a few years back, and I remembered it fondly and with anticipation. When she contacted me about her book launch, the people and the situation from the first movement of the cycle surged back into my head. Ummm... "First story"?
Or is that "first episode"? Whatever it's called.
I started reading the ARC as soon as it arrived, around two-thirty on Friday afternoon. I am happy to report that my bladder did not explode, and I finished the book just before the clock clicked over to Saturday.
Being an ARC, the layout looked a little odd to me, and there were a couple of minor language clunks in the first two stories, but by the middle of the third movement the narrative drive was pulling me along, my pulse was thudding and I was wondering what the heck was driving events in this magical world.
Liz Prospero, the "non-magical girl" in Piers Anthony's quote above, is doing the best she can to live a nonmagical life, but keeps being pulled into fights with renegade or insane sorcerors who, coincidentally, seem to wreck every chance her boyfriend has to meet her family. Sometimes tense, sometimes comical, but intensely realistic interaction between sister, brother and boyfriend on the subjects of ethics, society, their relationships and lives paint the issues both large and small against the backdrop of crisis after crisis.
It seldom slows down.
Meanwhile, her brother John is thrust into leading the Prospero family's traditional duties of tracking down these renegades and insane sorcerors -- who seem to be becoming more numerous every year -- catching them, and turning them over to their families for control and safekeeping. Even as magical technology is advancing geometrically, the social system is under stress from increasing numbers of these sorcerous breakdowns, and finally an organized group of criminal sorcerors starts a murder spree in Houston.
From that point I dare you to put the book down. I double dare you.
The work's not perfect, the page layout is a little odd, and you can argue with the editing of any particular section of the book. For instance, when what later is known as the Houston Horror is well under way, the narrative swerves away from the action to follow a refugee family to Liz's apartment in New York. As a short story, this writer decision fails utterly, but as part of a story cycle, it adds something. This kind of decision by Cordwainer is what pulls the book together as a whole - sacrifice the integrity of a "story" to the integrity of the cycle.
This book could have been structured other ways, for example as a generational novel, by avoiding the positive resolutions that are typical (but not guaranteed) of each story. Lots of other decisions could have been made.
I can't find the quote I want. I thought it was Paul Simon who responded to a "compliment" that, as good as his song lyrics were, he should be a poet. He replied that he was a songwriter because he subordinated the words to the needs of the song. This is the sign of a professional, and part of what makes the feel of Modern Magic unique. Yes, it's a collection of short stories, and yes, it's a novel of sorts, but the overarching narrative drive of the "story cycle" is a form of its own.
Cordwainer has made the decision to place five of the twelve movements online at her site, which gives you plenty enough time to get involved in the world and the people. It's urban fantasy without weres or vampires or squick, so try it out and see whether it works for you. For prose style, think Piers Anthony or Zelazny, but not quite as lush, since both the first-person protagonists are pretty down-to-earth people, although with clear viewpoints of their own.
This format should work well for people who, like me, prefer short fiction, and prefer to be able to pick up a book and put it down again feeling satisfied at reasonable intervals. Unfortunately, interest in the driving mystery of the second half of the book is going to lead you to be unable to do that.
Sorry, you'll just have to live with it.
If you're interested, Cordwainer has a launch party coming up February 15. If you buy the book before then, you get a password and access to great stuff.
And, don't worry what the book needs to be labeled. Just read it.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Reviewing Murdoch
NY Times writer David Carr reviews Michael Wolff’s new book — The Man Who Owns the News”. Pull quote from the review:
And the end graf:
The book is a strangely alluring artifact, with huge gaps in execution and stylistic tics that border on parody; it will nonetheless provide a deeply satisfying experience for the media-interested.
And the end graf:
Many before us have covered their eyes and waited for Rupert Murdoch to go away. Rupert Murdoch does not go away.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Book Review: Prom Dates from Hell by Rosemary Clement-Moore
Okay, so let's suppose you are stuck in high school, reading books like eating bonbons, with a college vocabulary and a wicked sense of humor. And let's suppose that you exhausted Encyclopedia Brown in third grade, the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew by fifth, Buffy is off the air and you are starved for entertainment. What should you do?
Well, meet Maggie Quinn: honor student, reporter, photographer, and apparently the target of a curse that may end up forcing her to - shudder - attend the prom.
Maggie is the heroine - yes, I can say that! - of the "Girl vs Evil" YA series by author Rosemary Clement-Moore. Here's the big picture of the first book, Prom Dates from Hell:
A minor incident with the Jocks and the Jessicas, Avalon high school's ruling clique, starts evil dominoes falling (figuratively), one-by-one crushing the school's royalty by destroying what each values most. Maggie Quinn suffers prophetic dreams, and each of the disasters seems to happen when Maggie is around. Small wonder that her attention is as much on trying to make sure the school doesn't start chanting "Burn the Witch" as it is on trying to figure out what's happening. And is it an evil ghost, or perhaps a Mesopotamian demon, that burns out her computer, along with the backup of her term paper that's due tomorrow?
Maggie labors to chase down the clues and keep down the body count, all the while waxing sarcastic about the social and educational insanity around her. Oh, and to make the chaos complete, one of the Jocks and a hot college guy with a thing for the occult seem to be vieing for her attention. Now if she can just find a dress before everyone dies horribly at the prom.
I loved this book, it's smart as Hell, although I do have some cautions about it.
First, Maggie is very intelligent, and actively uses vocabulary that most high schoolers won't understand, even after they wander on up to college. At first, that threw me off; I thought, Maggie's too smart to be in high school. Then I remembered that, actually, I knew all those words in sixth grade. I just didn't know anyone else that actually used them. Once I came to realize that, I let myself fall in love with the book. Especially after I met Maggie's Chemistry teacher, Professor Blackthorne.
Second, Maggie uses cultural references that won't be very familiar to typical high schoolers. The ones that weren't paying attention in class, that is. The good news is that the author does an awesome job of filling in any clueless readers, without slowing down the scene for footnotes. Here's an example -
By the way, any author who can have three characters named Jessica in the same book and still have the reader keep them straight, deserves some kind of achievement medal. I'll keep this book around for years to study that technique, right along with Tamora Pierce's Cold Fire. (No, Cold Fire doesn't have Jessicas, but it has crowds of characters and the reader still can still keep track of them.)
Third, it is a great read even for bright guy-readers, but they have to hold on through the first two chapters or so. Despite a fight between Jocks and a guy named Stanley, the estrogen quotient is elevated at the start. It's a school in the throes of prom season, so fabrics and clothes and social hierarchies are the order of the day, at least until the first Shadow Thing arrives. After that, well, hey, it's a story about a girl reporter/investigator, so expect to occasionally hear what underwear she's wearing. Life's like that. Take it with a shaker of salt.
That'll be funnier after you read the book.
Well, meet Maggie Quinn: honor student, reporter, photographer, and apparently the target of a curse that may end up forcing her to - shudder - attend the prom.
Maggie is the heroine - yes, I can say that! - of the "Girl vs Evil" YA series by author Rosemary Clement-Moore. Here's the big picture of the first book, Prom Dates from Hell:
A minor incident with the Jocks and the Jessicas, Avalon high school's ruling clique, starts evil dominoes falling (figuratively), one-by-one crushing the school's royalty by destroying what each values most. Maggie Quinn suffers prophetic dreams, and each of the disasters seems to happen when Maggie is around. Small wonder that her attention is as much on trying to make sure the school doesn't start chanting "Burn the Witch" as it is on trying to figure out what's happening. And is it an evil ghost, or perhaps a Mesopotamian demon, that burns out her computer, along with the backup of her term paper that's due tomorrow?
Maggie labors to chase down the clues and keep down the body count, all the while waxing sarcastic about the social and educational insanity around her. Oh, and to make the chaos complete, one of the Jocks and a hot college guy with a thing for the occult seem to be vieing for her attention. Now if she can just find a dress before everyone dies horribly at the prom.
I loved this book, it's smart as Hell, although I do have some cautions about it.
First, Maggie is very intelligent, and actively uses vocabulary that most high schoolers won't understand, even after they wander on up to college. At first, that threw me off; I thought, Maggie's too smart to be in high school. Then I remembered that, actually, I knew all those words in sixth grade. I just didn't know anyone else that actually used them. Once I came to realize that, I let myself fall in love with the book. Especially after I met Maggie's Chemistry teacher, Professor Blackthorne.
Second, Maggie uses cultural references that won't be very familiar to typical high schoolers. The ones that weren't paying attention in class, that is. The good news is that the author does an awesome job of filling in any clueless readers, without slowing down the scene for footnotes. Here's an example -
"Because the last thing I need right now is the head cheerleader screaming, 'I saw Goody Quinn dancing with the devil in the moonlight.'"
A slow, reluctant smile turned up the corners of his mouth. "Yeah. Those girls in The Crucible. They were totally Jessicas."
By the way, any author who can have three characters named Jessica in the same book and still have the reader keep them straight, deserves some kind of achievement medal. I'll keep this book around for years to study that technique, right along with Tamora Pierce's Cold Fire. (No, Cold Fire doesn't have Jessicas, but it has crowds of characters and the reader still can still keep track of them.)
Third, it is a great read even for bright guy-readers, but they have to hold on through the first two chapters or so. Despite a fight between Jocks and a guy named Stanley, the estrogen quotient is elevated at the start. It's a school in the throes of prom season, so fabrics and clothes and social hierarchies are the order of the day, at least until the first Shadow Thing arrives. After that, well, hey, it's a story about a girl reporter/investigator, so expect to occasionally hear what underwear she's wearing. Life's like that. Take it with a shaker of salt.
That'll be funnier after you read the book.
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