Review: Paranormalcy- Kiersten White

Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie's always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, 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 still. Normal.


Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.


So much for normal.

I’m an avid follower of Kiersten White’s blog, so I was incredibly excited to pick up her debut novel. I always enjoy her clever and hilarious sense of humor, and I kept my fingers crossed that I’d like Paranormalcy.

I didn’t just like it. I loved it.

For one, the cover is so gorgeous that my inner photographer is itching to get out and do a shoot in a field of some sort. Plus, it's always great to recognize elements of the cover in the book!

Evie was a likeable (if hyperactive) character who was quite easy to empathize with and although the references to her love of pink were completely over the top, they made me smile for that precise reason. Lend was absolutely adorable. I especially enjoyed the parts about his peculiar heritage and hope that’ll be touched on more in future. Reth was supremely creepy, and the hags were actually terrifying- I felt a literal chill down my spine at one scene with a hag and some dead paranormals. Not the best scene to read at one in the morning!

I would have liked to see Evie kick more butt than she did, and wished occasionally that the high school parts were more developed, but I’m sure there’ll be more along those lines in future installments—'Tasey' is super cool and needs more action!

Although Evie struck me as (understandably) a little immature at the beginning, I felt that she’d grown up by the end, which is always extremely satisfying. There’s no use having a perfect character the whole way through: that’s called the Mary Sue effect, and it makes for one boring book. Thankfully, Paranormalcy didn't fall into the trap, and I enjoyed the characterization.

Paranormalcy is an odd mix of paranormal and 'bubblegum' fiction that is handled extremely well. Unique paranormal elements and Kiersten White’s ever-funny humor make for one promising and fun debut novel. I can’t wait for Supernaturally, out in September 2011!

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