Saturday, January 1, 2011

Nevermore by Kelly Creagh


Nevermore by Kelly Creagh

Summary:

Isobel is a sixteen year old cheerleader. Her life is defined by that attribute. She is the flyer on the squad, which means that she is the one flipped in the air in the routines. Her friends are all cheerleaders and football players. They make up her “crew”. She doesn’t know or associate with the other cliques in the school. She doesn’t even know the name of the girl whose locker is right next to her and has never even talked to her. Her boyfriend is the running back on the football team. Her best friend is another cheerleader. Her life is perfect, right. Well, that is all about to change. Mr. Swanson, her English teacher, drops a partner project/presentation on her about an American author. And then he has the nerve to pick their partners. Isobel is partnered with Veran Nethers, the local dark Goth. He hardly even talks to her when she tries to talk about the project but he does write his phone number on her hand in purple ink. An experience that is mildly disturbing to Isobel but her best friend is appalled and finds a way to let Isobel’s boyfriend know about it. Needless to say the football player, Brad, is less than happy and he finds opportunity to bully Veran about it. The complications to Isobel’s life get out of control from there. Isobel wants to do her project so her grades will stay good and she can be on the cheer squad. Her friends don’t want her to have anything to do with the creepy Veran. Veran is quiet and doesn’t make things easy for Isobel. He picks his favorite author, Edger Allen Poe, for their project. Every time they try to meet and work on the project, the complications get worse and worse. Soon Isobel’s friends have abandoned her and are persecuting Veran. The deadline for the project, Halloween, draws near and it isn’t getting done. But then things really start getting weird. Isobel starts hearing and seeing things. Poe’s strange world seems to be leaking into hers. Veran acts even stranger and is quieter than normal. Everything blows up on Halloween, the day that the project/presentation is due. Will Isobel find a way to keep her friends and boyfriend while still keeping her grade good in English? Will her growing feeling for Veran be returned? But soon the more important question is, will she or Veran survive Halloween alive?

My thoughts:

I loved the way this book began. I loved the world that was created where Isobel lives. The whole high school scene is very believable. I loved the character of Veran, a totally misunderstood guy with a lot of issues. I loved Isobel’s character. She was so sure of her position in the school and then she found out how little her clique of friends really protected her. She was very upset with how her friends treated Veran. I was proud of her willingness to stand up for him and to him. I liked that she was willing to enter his world and wanted to know more about him. I loved that he took her criticism to heart and he tried to fix things with her. They made a great pair.

The strangeness of the book was the Edger Allen Poe parts. It certainly made the book less predictable. It wasn’t the girl meets boy from wrong part of the school. It wasn’t girl falls for Goth guy. It wasn’t Goth guy falls for cheerleader girl; they bring the school together and live happily ever after. No the Poe connection made the whole thing different. If you aren’t familiar with Poe, the books still makes sense. The author does a good job of explaining the Poe that you need to understand the plot. This aspect of the book takes it from paranormal to mild horror. There are creepy little guys that are up to no good wondering around. There are weird dreams that are more real than not. There are disappearing people. And there are creepy sounds. All of this requires a lot of explanation which is a big part of why the book is so long, 543 pages.

The part of this book that crushed me was the ending. I can’t say anything without spoiling it but I will say that I’m going to have to spend at least a year pacing around waiting for the next book in the series, which isn’t due out until sometime in 2012! If you can handle the mild horror and the Poe aspects of the book, this is a great read. 4 out of 5 stars. Enjoy the read!

1 comment:

  1. This is one of my favourite books! Great review


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