Book Review: Paranormalcy

Author: Kiersten White
Release Date: August 31, 2010
Pages: 352
Read it in: 3 days

The Hook: I see things you can't see. I find things that hunt you. I am your protector. But even I can't protect you now.

Summary: Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie's always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, 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 still. Normal.

Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophesies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophesy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures. 

So much for normal.

LC's Take: 

Oh wow, I really liked this book! I am one of those readers who has to read everything word-for-word in my head in order to follow the story (definitely not a speed reader!) so it takes me longer to get through a book, but even I whipped through Paranormalcy in about 3 days (and that was on top of work, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, etc.). Not too shabby! Paranormalcy kept me interested the whole way through-- the writing style was smart, witty and made me laugh to myself on almost every page.

The main character is Evie, a normal teenage girl despite her ability to see paranormals, and the story is told through her point of view. I swear it was scary how much Evie and I think alike! She is intelligent and ditzy at the same time, which I can totally relate to-- she has a head on her shoulders but she struggles with all the insecurities and embarrassments that go along with being a 16-year old. And for Evie it's even tougher because, you know, her job is to "bag-and-tag" paranormals like vampires, werewolves and hags with a pink taser and bring them back to headquarters for containment. I loved Evie and I'm really glad Kiersten told the story though her eyes-- her sense of humor and ability to make fun of herself were a welcome change from the angsty, emo-types that seem so prevalent in a lot of YA.

The supporting characters added to the lighthearted feel of the book-- Lend is the shape-shifting hottie Evie has a crush on and who really cares about her. Reth is Evie's ex-boyfriend who is also a faerie and takes on the possessive, won't-take-no-for-an-answer stalker-type role. Lish is Evie's best friend (and a mermaid) who works for IPCA and continually gets censored for swearing though the computer that translates her "Mermish" language (hard to explain but it's pretty darn funny).

My opinion? Definitely check this book out! The plot was clever and fast-paced with lots of action. Evie's sense of humor balances the darker parts of the story, and besides she is an awesome kick-butt kind of heroine. There were only two issues I had with this book: one was the secondary characters. They weren't quite as fleshed-out as I would've liked, and Evie's relationships with them were kind of wishy-washy, so it was hard to feel emotional when something happened to them. The other is that I found the cover/back description to be kind of misleading-- if you think this is some dark, Gothic read with lots of serious writing, it's not-- quite the opposite, it's goofy/campy-- in a good way. Other than that, I thought this was a fun and entertaining read. I really haven't seen a bad review for this book yet and am happy to add on with another happy-reader review!

LC's Rating:

A fast-paced, fun read that combines all of your fave paranormal creatures into one clever and creative story-- you won't regret reading this one!!