Paranormalcy

From School Library Journal 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 normaluntil 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. From Booklist 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 doesnt 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, Whites debut will have broad appeal among fantasy fans. Grades 9-12. --Kara Dean Fixed : ?