Title: Paranormalcy
Author: Kiersten White
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: August 31st, 2010
Pages: 352 pages (hardback)
Evie's always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she's falling for a shape-shifter, and she's the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours.
But Evie's about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.
So much for normal.
Evelyn (aka Evie) is the only person in the world who can see past the glamours paranormals put up. After being saved from a vampire at age eight, Evie stayed with the group that saved her and now works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency at age sixteen. Between watching Easton Heights, bagging and tagging vampires, and fending off a possessive faerie named Reth, she longs to live the life of a normal teenage girl. Her meeting with a watery shape-shifter named Lend, in which she first greets him with the shock of her pink taser Tasey, is only the first event in a series that leads to the unveiling of a prophecy that just might be about her, revelations about her strange past, and the slowly-progressing destruction of paranormal creatures.
I don't even know how to describe how much I loved this book; it's one of the few that was so great that I'm at a loss for words. The cover made me think that this story would be 100% dramatic, but it was even parts humor and drama. Evie was a heroine I could cheer for and did not routinely get angry at like I do many other fictional heroines. Lend was not just a love interest, but a character in his own right; this is a relief after so many novels in which a male is either a lifeless love interest for the main character or a good character with has no chance of getting the main character. Reth... well, more on Reth later.
The first-person narration by Evie was pitch-perfect. She could describe a scene so vividly that I would see through the glamours of paranormal creatures with her and with such sharp humor that I would laugh out loud. I don't get emotionally invested in books very often, but this book managed to make me laugh and cry and drop my jaw at least five times each. White also knew when to put a pause on the humor, like scenes where Evie's inner conflicts about what she was came into play. Thank goodness I read this in the sanctity of my home; if I were reading it at school, my classmates would have wondered what was wrong with me!
My favorite character was, without a doubt, Reth the faerie. Not because he was hawt, but because he was absolutely terrifying! When he came into a scene, I went wide-eyed and read the scene greedily. He scared me, creeped me out, and made shivers run down my spine in fear- a fictional character hasn't gotten such a genuine reaction out of me in months! Some people have called him one of Evie's love interests, but I think he's more of an antagonist than a love interest. He's not the antagonist (that title goes to someone else), but he's no ally of Evie's and many of his actions during this novel make the two of them enemies.
Author: Kiersten White
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: August 31st, 2010
Pages: 352 pages (hardback)
But Evie's about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.
So much for normal.
Review:
I have wanted this book ever since I read the description and thought, "Mine!" This timeline of events from the night I read the book is pretty telling of what I thought of the book: I started reading Paranormalcy at nine thirty at night and stopped at two in the morning, with my only break lasting ten minutes so I could change clothes and crawl into bed. As someone in this book might say: ladies and gentlemen, I have lost my bleep over this highly original and very enjoyable book.Evelyn (aka Evie) is the only person in the world who can see past the glamours paranormals put up. After being saved from a vampire at age eight, Evie stayed with the group that saved her and now works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency at age sixteen. Between watching Easton Heights, bagging and tagging vampires, and fending off a possessive faerie named Reth, she longs to live the life of a normal teenage girl. Her meeting with a watery shape-shifter named Lend, in which she first greets him with the shock of her pink taser Tasey, is only the first event in a series that leads to the unveiling of a prophecy that just might be about her, revelations about her strange past, and the slowly-progressing destruction of paranormal creatures.
I don't even know how to describe how much I loved this book; it's one of the few that was so great that I'm at a loss for words. The cover made me think that this story would be 100% dramatic, but it was even parts humor and drama. Evie was a heroine I could cheer for and did not routinely get angry at like I do many other fictional heroines. Lend was not just a love interest, but a character in his own right; this is a relief after so many novels in which a male is either a lifeless love interest for the main character or a good character with has no chance of getting the main character. Reth... well, more on Reth later.
The first-person narration by Evie was pitch-perfect. She could describe a scene so vividly that I would see through the glamours of paranormal creatures with her and with such sharp humor that I would laugh out loud. I don't get emotionally invested in books very often, but this book managed to make me laugh and cry and drop my jaw at least five times each. White also knew when to put a pause on the humor, like scenes where Evie's inner conflicts about what she was came into play. Thank goodness I read this in the sanctity of my home; if I were reading it at school, my classmates would have wondered what was wrong with me!
My favorite character was, without a doubt, Reth the faerie. Not because he was hawt, but because he was absolutely terrifying! When he came into a scene, I went wide-eyed and read the scene greedily. He scared me, creeped me out, and made shivers run down my spine in fear- a fictional character hasn't gotten such a genuine reaction out of me in months! Some people have called him one of Evie's love interests, but I think he's more of an antagonist than a love interest. He's not the antagonist (that title goes to someone else), but he's no ally of Evie's and many of his actions during this novel make the two of them enemies.
And oh, the bleep thing! You've already seen it twice in my review. This was one of Paranormalcy's most memorable qualities. One character, Lish the mermaid, speaks through a computer and since it can't translate cuss words, they all come out as "bleep" when she cusses. Evie adopts this habit of replacing her cuss words with "bleep." I love that this book isn't filled with every cuss word known to man like some books (see: House of Night series) and that the author didn't resort to using really stupid words to replace cuss words (once again, see House of Night series). "Bleep" was a nice, neutral word to use in place of a cuss word that could keep with the light-hearted vibe and not make it overly silly.
As much as I loved this book, that "bleep" thing got me. Like I said, it was a unique, awesome touch, but one little "bleep" managed to ruin an entire scene that would have been totally awesome otherwise. Most of the bleeps were well-placed, but this one was way out of place and yanked me out of the scene so badly that it knocked off a star all by itself. Either way, I'm getting the sequel Supernaturally as soon as it comes out in 2011.
4 stars!
