This story is about two cups of Beauty and the Beast, a dash of Rumpelstiltskin, and a pinch of Bluebeard. The mixture is then blended with a heaping tablespoon of fantasy (I don’t know, there’s this weird touch magic thing). A teenage girl named Nyx is forced to marry a horrible beast. Her future is to kill him, though she will also die in the process. I had some major issues with the main character at times. There are some inexcusable moments of stupidity. Overall, […]
Flavia de Luce is all growed up. Kinda.
Flavia de Luce, we meet again. I’ve been nuts about the magnificently precocious 12 year old amateur sleuth ever since the opening pages of the first book, when she looked at the cook employed by her father at their huge country house and thought “will no-one rid us of this turbulent pastry chef?” She is an absolute delight of a character, though the series has shown signs of stalling, as Flavia continues to be the same age and remain in the same location, edging ever […]
Peer Pressure and Cartoon Villainy
We get a prologue from a murderer again. And we get a prologue that takes place weeks after the story actually opens. My favorite. Yay. Johanna Wise is one of Shadyside’s poor kids. Her mom has been working two jobs ever since she and Johanna’s dad got divorced–with all of the single parent households in Shadyside, I have to assume the divorce happened while he was awaiting trial on federal charges. She’s envious of Dennis Arthur and his crowd–the wealthiest kids in Shadyside. With enough […]
Turns Out Life Is Cheap
In the first chapter of this book, we learn Deena Martinson broke up with Gary Brandt. So they’re both still in high school. I’m telling you: Shadyside time warp. No one escapes. Janie, Faith, and Eve are all best friends. They were the head of the committee for the school dance, and they have to meet up after school to count the take and turn it over to the principal. Before they can get started, however, the mysterious new boy at school appears while clutching […]
A Novel of Ridiculous Coincidences
Once more, we’ve got a Fear Street book that doesn’t even take place in Shadyside. The tenuous connection is a character who lives on Fear Street. I’m tempted to go back and count how many Shadyside High students live on Fear Street so far. Too many to make the street’s reputation plausible, I think. We open this time not with a murderer, but with a victim. Claudia Walker wakes up on the beach with her face severely burned, her eyes swollen shut, and her body […]
Ever Heard of a Broken Aesop?
Some of these books feel like very special messages: don’t make prank calls, don’t lie and spend the night on an island without any adults and try to cover up a murder, don’t cheat. The messages always seem to miss something, though, since kids making prank calls discovered and helped catch a murderer. I guess the idiots on the island helped catch a couple more murderers. The ‘don’t cheat’ message seems to work, though. At least don’t cheat with someone else’s boyfriend, because you might […]
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