Comments for The Otherworldlies

The Otherworldlies: 02/14/12

The Otherworldlies by Jennifer Anne Kogler is about Fern trying to figure out why she's so much different from her fraternal twin, Sam. She's paler than pale, to the point of needing massive amounts of sunscreen to go anywhere. She can accurately predict the weather — always and talk to her dog. All those things she has learned to live with, but accidentally teleporting from school to the beach in the middle of a class, is a whole other thing!

The first two thirds of Otherworldlies is set in San Juan Capistrano. Besides Fern's teleportation problem, and the ire it creates with her mother, there are the swallows falling dead from the sky. The dead birds add a feeling of dread to a story that would otherwise seem like a lighthearted YA paranormal novel.

As with many YA books, Sam and Fern are children of a single mother. Their mother runs the home with military precision, another usual plot device to complicate the hero's plans. Except, this time, the mother's reasons, once revealed make sense and make her a believable and sympathetic character.

I especially loved the setting, San Juan Capistrano and later Coronado Island in San Diego. As a native Californian, I always perk up when the setting is somewhere I'm familiar with. Both locations, while molded for artistic license, are still recognizable and still resplendent with their local personalities. How Coronado island is described, especially, made me giggle for the juxtaposition of the paranormal use and the mundane use.

I plan to read book two, The Siren's Cry which came out in 2011.

Five stars.

Recent posts

Month in review

Reviews
Attention All Shipping by Charlie Connelly
Blood Lure by Nevada Barr
Bombardiers by Po Bronson
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Clementine and the Family Meeting by Sara Pennypacker
Dark's Tale by Deborah Grabien
Finders Keepers by Russ Colchamiro
Fullmetal Alchemst 15 by Hiromu Arakawa
The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong
The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade
Havana Real by Yoani Sanchez
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
Home by Marilynne Robinson
Imagine a Place by Sarah L. Thomson and Rob Gonsalves
Immortal by Gene Doucette
June 29, 1999 by David Wiesner
Life After Joe by Harper Fox
Magyk by Angie Sage
No Castles Here by ACE Bauer
The Otherworldlies by Jennifer Anne Kogler
Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier
The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
A Princess of Landover by Terry Brooks
Queen of the Dead by Stacey Kade
The Runaway Mummy by Michael Rex
The Stainless Steel Rat Returns by Harry Harrison
A Tinfoil Sky by Cyndi Sand-Eveland
We Are in a Book by Mo Willems
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

Book Blogger Hop
February 2012

What Am I Reading
February 06, 2012
Feburary 13, 2012
February 20, 2012
February 27, 2012

Previous month

Comments for The Otherworldlies

The Otherworldlies: 02/14/12

Other posts and reviews:

Recent posts