Paranormalcy , by Kiersten White

Hardcover, 335 pages

Published August 31st 2010 by HarperTeen

ISBN

0061985848 (ISBN13: 9780061985843)

edition language

English

original title

Paranormalcy

series

Paranormalcy #1

characters

Raquel, Arianna, Evie, Reth, Lend

literary awards

Whitney Award for Best Novel by a New Author (2010), Abraham Lincoln Award Nominee (2013)

 

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

 

My Review

Eh, it was kind of different, but it wasn't really anything to brag about which is ashame considering the fact that the cover is totally gorgeous and we are all wishing that we could be that very girl there on the cover. I think what I got from this book was an almost sort of vampire academy feel to it, which again brings up the whole, here we go, yet another cliche feeling that just leaves you sort of not hating, but disliking the book from chapter one. Here we meet Evie, who isn't all human but isn't all supernatural either. She was abandoned as a child and as a result was adopted into a service that ewould take full advantage of her magical talents, in that she could see beyond the glamours to the real creature below. We see a teenager who wants to be something more than she is because she is in a closed and lonely life style, where she can't go to school or do all the things she wants to do. But then she meets someone that others seem to consider dangerous where as she considers a friend, and then eventually more.

 

From that first sort of thing, you can see immediately where the book is heading which as a result just ruined the plot for me and I found myself skimming the pages rather than really enjoying them, because I felt like I already knew the story. It is a same though, because I felt that there was certainly more to be offered here that could have made it stand out on its own, so that it was more than just every other book, but something powerful and thought provoking.  I felt Evie, the main character, was cliche in a way that she appears in every young adult book that you read and of course this is the same in regards to the fact that the relationship is equally as cliche.

 

To be honest, I was really struggling to understand why this was such a big hit when I just found it over rated, dull and cliche. It was something that I had read before, and is probably something I will no doubt read over and over again. Its like authors get stuck in the trend and want to out do one another by producing the same story in a high quality and context. but guys, its failing.

 

Yes of course I enjoyed the romance and I kinda already guessed that Evie was more than meets the eyes but I really wanted more from the novel. I wanted to be able to really feel like I was going on the journey with them and that I was the one facing danger when everything was about to slot into an okish place. It really was a real shame for me. Im hoping the second book picks up. 

 

My rating