  | Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 10/15/2010 Sixteen-year-old Evie learns that she is not quite the person she thought she was in this creature-feature mash-up. Possessing the unique ability to recognize paranormals beneath their glamour, Evie has lived most of her life under the protection of the International Paranormal Containment Agreement (IPCA), an organization dedicated to the cataloging and neutralizing of paranormal creatures. After a mysterious entity begins killing paranormals around the world, Evie discovers some startling truths about her own identity. This is a fast-paced, entertaining debut, reminiscent of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series in its story of a seemingly normal girl coerced to work for a supernatural agenda that she doesn’t always understand. White creates compelling tension as Evie longs for a normal teenhood while trying to preserve the humanity she has always believed to be her birthright; a love triangle adds further conflict, as Evie must choose between not only two different interests but two starkly different destinies. Alternately funny and tragic but never maudlin, White’s debut will have broad appeal among fantasy fans. - Copyright 2010 Booklist. Bulletin for the Center... - 12/01/2010 Okay, seriously, what does a girl have to do to find some normalcy? Evie accepts that her remarkable talent of seeing beneath any glamour makes her exceptionally suited for work with the International Paranormal Containment Agency, and she takes in stride that her best friend is a mermaid and that her work days consist of bagging and tagging various supernatural creatures. She has even learned to accept that regular school (with, as far as Evie can tell from TV, its abundant thrills of prom, individual lockers, and relationship dramas played out in lunchrooms) isn’t really an option. But even Evie’s inexhaustible snark and pluck won’t be enough when a recent string of murders points back to her in horrific ways. The murderer looks exactly like her, a fairy keeps trying to inject her with some sort of weird power, her crush on a shapeshifter is leading to nothing but trouble, and, darn it, now Evie’s not even sure she’s going to survive this whole ordeal, let alone finally get her own locker someday. This witty novel hilariously challenges notions of dreamy vampires, along with many other common assumptions about paranormals that seem to abound in supernatural YA fiction. The romance is keenly realistic, both in its flaws and its over-the-top youthful notions of true love. And Evie herself, simultaneously naïve and overconfident because of her unusual upbringing, is a memorable character whose ultimate intense sacrifice will surprise as well as please readers, who will hope as fervently as she that she might someday get her chance to be bored by everyday life just like a real teen. AS - Copyright 2010 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. School Library Journal - 12/01/2010 Gr 7 Up—First in a trilogy, this clever, must-have debut focuses on sassy Evie, 16, who calls the International Paranormal Containment Agency home. Armed with her unique ability to see through all paranormal "glamours" and her trusty pink taser, Evie bags, tags, and helps IPCA track and contain a variety of familiar creatures. Despite her unconventional life (no origin story, mermaid best friend, werewolf colleagues, etc.), she considers herself to be pretty normal—until shape-shifting elemental and extremely cute Lend breaks into IPCA looking for answers and ironically becomes one of the agency's latest puzzles. The more pressing concern: Who's been murdering paranormals? Lend's arrival; fae ex-boyfriend's (literally) hot, increasingly threatening advances; unsettling dreams; and a well-planned attack on the agency force Evie to face surprising revelations about IPCA and herself. White's storytelling successfully balances the fun and the sinister. There's an interesting mix of magic and technology. The pace is brisk with plenty of action. White's faeries (not vamps) are the beautiful and manipulative paranormals to watch out for, a refreshing change for some readers. Characterization is consistent, though Evie is the most fleshed out. A perfect blend of normal/supernatural, she simultaneously doubts her genetic makeup while yearning for and worrying about typical teenage concerns. Featuring a clever, kick-butt heroine channeling both Buffy and a PG Sookie, this book will likely fly off library shelves.—Danielle Serra, Cliffside Park Public Library, NJ - Copyright 2010 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Loading...
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