If you are looking for another fantastical YA Young Adult Sci Fi / Fantasy series like Eragon or Harry Potter, which will take you to a whole new world then this book is for you! I love books that start with a young character and put them through the ringer. In this book, a smart tough teen learns she has abilities she didn’t know she had, not magical talents, but loyalty, courage and strength.

Holly Black has enormous writing talent and her characters jump off the page. I just eat up a book when I feel like I really know what the characters are going through. The main character in this book Kaye starts off a “normal teen” (although tough as nails and head-to-toe in black) and ends up in a very different place. Or maybe some of the same places, but with her eyes opened. Whatever. An entire world opens up to her, and she sees lots of things she doesn’t understand. She runs into challenges and opportunities, and can’t tell the difference. She meets many new friends and foes, and you can’t tell which is which.

One mention, this story is not a fairy tale where cinderella gets a godmother to wisk her away and lives happily ever after. If you are looking for a light-hearted romance then this book is not for you. It’s a bit dark starting with the tough life of a teenage girl (was anyone happy in their teens really?). The main character has to work for it, and she doesn’t always know where she is headed. There are acid trip-like experiences with a grisly Unseelie court. There is love interest, it’s just not the gush-and-gab type, it’s more of the on-razors-edge type, like Twilight. Kaye does meet a great guy, or two. The romance is just a piece of the larger plot unfolding.

Overall, this is a great coming of age story, with several twists of hope and frenzy mixed with whimsical magic and terror.