Review of Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
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Keirakay
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Review of Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
Meet fifteen-year-old Evelyn (Evie), who works for an international agency dedicated to keeping track of paranormal creatures and keeping them from harming humans. Evie is quite valuable to the agency due to her ability to see through glamours – the disguises paranormals adopt to hide among humans. At the age of eight, the agency discovered Evie’s talent and rescued her from the foster care system. She has lived and worked at the agency ever since.
Evie, like most teenagers, itches to have more freedom. She is rarely allowed to leave the facility, unless she’s on a “job”. She does not attend school or associate with “normal” teenagers. The closest thing she’s had to a boyfriend is a faerie who is always trying to get under her skin (literally), but who only wants to steal her heart for his own amusement. She longs for a normal home, with a mom and a dad and no paranormals – instead she has to make do with a suite of rooms at the agency and a boss who sometimes doubles as a psuedo-mom. It’s better than the foster system, though, and overall she’s content.
Then someone starts killing paranormals, and Evie finds out it has something to do with her. Things get more and more dangerous, and Evie starts to find out more and more about herself, but the revelations come slow and leave more questions than answers. Even while she longs to know the details of her past, she fears that what she does learn will leave her more alone than ever, and make any chance of normalcy – or even happiness – absolutely impossible.
The book is a lively, interesting story with underlying themes on being true to yourself and accepting yourself as you are, as well as accepting others as they are; being different doesn’t necessary make you better or worse than anyone else. Although I kept wanting to smack Evie and tell her to "Stop!" or to "Say Something!" or to "Be Quiet!!!" - I think her actions fit in pretty well with her character's age and personality. I was able to sympathize with most of the supporting characters as well; they were mostly believable, and the storyline was solid. It won’t go down as fine literature, but I doubt it was meant to – it’s just a fun and entertaining story, and I am looking forward to reading the sequel.
The book fits perfectly into the Young Adult Fantasy Genre, is the first of a trilogy, and has 368 pages. It has no profanity I can recall, some kissing - but no sex, some violence, some spookiness, and some villainous behavior – but nothing terribly disturbing. I would judge the book to be okay for the younger adolescent as well as the older, while still having enough substance to interest the adult.
In conclusion it was an entertaining read, and I could find no problems or faults within the book severe enough to affect my enjoyment of the story ---
I would give Paranormalcy 4 out of 4 stars, and a glowing recommendation!
Evie, like most teenagers, itches to have more freedom. She is rarely allowed to leave the facility, unless she’s on a “job”. She does not attend school or associate with “normal” teenagers. The closest thing she’s had to a boyfriend is a faerie who is always trying to get under her skin (literally), but who only wants to steal her heart for his own amusement. She longs for a normal home, with a mom and a dad and no paranormals – instead she has to make do with a suite of rooms at the agency and a boss who sometimes doubles as a psuedo-mom. It’s better than the foster system, though, and overall she’s content.
Then someone starts killing paranormals, and Evie finds out it has something to do with her. Things get more and more dangerous, and Evie starts to find out more and more about herself, but the revelations come slow and leave more questions than answers. Even while she longs to know the details of her past, she fears that what she does learn will leave her more alone than ever, and make any chance of normalcy – or even happiness – absolutely impossible.
The book is a lively, interesting story with underlying themes on being true to yourself and accepting yourself as you are, as well as accepting others as they are; being different doesn’t necessary make you better or worse than anyone else. Although I kept wanting to smack Evie and tell her to "Stop!" or to "Say Something!" or to "Be Quiet!!!" - I think her actions fit in pretty well with her character's age and personality. I was able to sympathize with most of the supporting characters as well; they were mostly believable, and the storyline was solid. It won’t go down as fine literature, but I doubt it was meant to – it’s just a fun and entertaining story, and I am looking forward to reading the sequel.
The book fits perfectly into the Young Adult Fantasy Genre, is the first of a trilogy, and has 368 pages. It has no profanity I can recall, some kissing - but no sex, some violence, some spookiness, and some villainous behavior – but nothing terribly disturbing. I would judge the book to be okay for the younger adolescent as well as the older, while still having enough substance to interest the adult.
In conclusion it was an entertaining read, and I could find no problems or faults within the book severe enough to affect my enjoyment of the story ---
I would give Paranormalcy 4 out of 4 stars, and a glowing recommendation!
