It’s 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma’s reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she’s been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence’s most powerful girls—and their foray into the spiritual world—lead to? (GoodReads).
Originality: 2. Victorian girls with sassy, wild, independent sides seem to be the only type of teenage women in YA historical fiction. Don't get me wrong, power to the ladies, but this is a frequent setup.
Absurdity: 1.5 billion. This was all crazy because it made ME crazy.
Level of Paranormal Romance: 7. You know falling for a gypsy boy ( that you can't be with, obvi) when you can commune with the spiritual world is BASICALLY a paranormal romance...because all gypsies are magical, right? Isn't that why the wizard in the Wizard of Oz pretends to be one? This is at least a truth in my brain.
Level of Harry Potterness: 1. I do not want to know more. This book was just not for me. Goosie Mama is going to totally disagree. She loved this series and flew through them. This is even better for me, because now she can just tell me what happens! Then I can know and still move on.
I read only half of this one... however.... I loved Bray's newest book, The Diviners... even if it was very very long.
ReplyDeleteOMG it was so long--and I agree, much better than this.
DeleteThe only book I've read by Bray to date has been The Diviners, which I loved. She does paranormal period pieces so well, although, maybe not-so-much here. I guess that remains to be seen!
ReplyDeleteI think the thing is I have a very low tolerance (or maybe it is high expectations) for historical fiction. I hate when the dialogue feels canned!
DeleteOh, I totally agree! Unbelievable as some of the more paranormal elements might seem, the rest of the story still has to feel authentic to that time/place. If this book didn't achieve at least that much, then it's probably not for me.
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