Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Summary

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.

Review

I can't recommend Paranormalcy highly enough. It's one of my favorite discoveries all year long. The book hooked me from the first page. Evie works for the IPCA, an international organization that registers and controls paranormal creatures. She has the ability to see through glamours and recognize paranormals for what they are. This makes her vital to the IPCA. She's lived with them since she was 7 or 8 when they rescued her from foster care. She brings in paranormals to the IPCA, subduing them with her beloved Tasey. It's an exciting life, but Evie longs to be a normal teenager. She obsesses over a high school TV soap opera and glamorizes even the most simple facets of school life, such as lockers. Even though Evie has lots of friends and a caretaker at the IPCA, she is extremely lonely.

The IPCA is troubled by recent deaths of paranormals. At the same time, a mysterious paranormal ends up within the IPCA compound, overtaking several agents. Evie forms a friendship with him. Lend has the fascinating ability to instantly shape shift into any other person, clothes and all. As their friendship grows and the threat from the IPCA becomes stronger, Evie must question everything. Who or what is she? Who cares about her? What is the purpose of the IPCA?

I love the relationship between Lend and Evie. He's a great "leading guy," a nice friendly boy that any girl would love to bring home to her parents. It's nice to see that they become friends before their relationship becomes anything more. I also enjoyed the complexity of Evie's relationship with Raquel, who plays a mother role, but also doesn't, leaving Evie somewhat directionless. My only complaint about the characters or relationships in the book is Evie's connection to Vivian. I understand what it is, but I didn't emotionally relate to it as well as the others.

The plotting in Paranormalcy is fabulous. I was surprised to see a huge plot climax occur only halfway through the book. I'd assumed the entire book was going to be based on the initial plot arc, but Kiersten had lots more in store for us. There were so many different pieces to the story that I never got bored and always looked forward to the next page.

Rating: 4.5 / 5