Review: Paranormalcy

Title: Paranormalcy
Author: Kiersten White
Series: #1 of Paranormalcy
Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy
Age restriction? None
Published: 31 August 2010
Recommended for: Fans of lighter YA or spec fic
Buy: Paranormalcy @ Amazon

Stellar book with fun characters, original concepts and a great story. A MUST READ NAO book.

DESCRIPTION (via Goodreads): Evie’s always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, 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 Evie’s about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

So much for normal. 

REVIEW: I loved this book. Loved loved loved it. Not only were the characters fully rounded and incredibly engaging (even the "bad guys", I love that!), but the main character, Evie, goes through several upsets during the book changing her entire life and the way she views the world. 

While there are your stock paranormals kept at the Center, White also invents a couple as she goes along (including the two main characters), which I found very well-done and enriching. While it may be said that the paranormals the Center pursues are "underpowered", in the context of the book it made a lot of sense - if they were invincible and there were that many creatures all around us all the time, human population would have died out long before the IPCA or the APCA could have been started to contain them. The moral and ethical implications of containment and "neutering" the PNs are also beginning to be explored towards the end, which I found added an unforeseen level of depth to an already exciting and fresh plot.

Speaking of plot, this book's was perfectly paced, leaving you to wonder at the right moments and offering (some) explanations only when you need them.

Paranormalcy was, in my book, almost perfect. It was great fun to read, you really come to care about all of the characters and the story was engaging and original. I had to wrack my brain to come up with something I didn't like, and the only thing I could get was that Evie named her taser gun. Tasey. Yah.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Any fans of spec-fic or YA, and anyone whose soul sometimes craves for just fun and something non-angsty. This book is pretty light and fluffy, so there are no age constraints or worries and is just a general feel-good book. I guess if you think the light side of life and people having fun while in danger is all unicorns and rainbows and stupid, you might want to first lend it from the library or a friend.