I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Veronica Wolff this summer at BEA (Book Expo America). Naturally when she told me she wrote a YA series I was intrigued. Veronica Wolff is author of the Isle of Night series and Pumpkin’s new bestie!
The Isle of Night series is like any teen boarding school story. Pretty girls, handsome guys, super hot instructors, vampires, and violence. That’s right, The Isle of Night is no Facts of Life sitcom. Unless of course, you’re Vampire and you enjoy watching young women beat each other to death. In that case, you’ll be right at home.
If you’re tired of the simple minded heroine who needs a guy to rescue her cuz she can’t function in life on her own, this book isn’t for you. If you’re a young lady with a brain, hate gym class, and feel like a misfit, then you’ll be able to relate to our heroine Annelise Drew. What I love about our protagonist is that she’s smart. Crazy smart in a Mensa candidate kind of way. She’s smart and she knows it and she LIKES being smart. She doesn’t value herself based on her looks, which in her mind are nonexistent, and as a side note, hardly drive the story line.
Kudos to Wolff for giving us a character who isn’t obsessed with shopping or drinking or doing drugs. Our heroine finds herself at a boarding school training to help vampires. All of the students are misfits in some way and Annelise can’t figure out how to fit in. What she does figure out is how to survive: and that’s by avoiding getting killed by her roommate and her Mean Girls minions.
How good is this book? As I was 30 pages in, Pumpkin took the book from me, finished it and devoured book 2 in one day. When I finally got Isle of Night back, I stayed up until 1230 to finish it. I’m dragging today, but IT. WAS.WORTH. IT.
I liked the book so much I’m making it my to avatar. Oh and did I mention that one of the secondary characters is a cute Japanese boy? Wolff must have heard my yippees as I rejoiced in the multicultural characters! I give Isle of Night four paws. But be warned: it is violent and there is language.
