| $@%&! level: Low “Bedroom” level: Low Violence level: Medium-Low (mostly against supernatural entities) Back Cover: “In the wake of the accident that killed her family, Spirit White is spirited away to Oakhurst Academy, a combination school and orphanage in the middle of Montana. There she learns she is a legacy—not only to the school, which her parents also attended, but to magic. All the students at Oakhurst have magical powers, and although Spirit’s hasn’t manifested itself yet, the administrators insist she has one. Spirit isn’t sure she cares. Devastated by the loss of her family, she finds comfort with a group of friends: Burke Hallows, Lachlann Spears, Muirin Shae, and Adelaide Lake. But something strange is going on at Oakhurst. Students start disappearing under mysterious circumstances, and the school seems to be trying to cover it up. Spirit and her friends must find out what’s happening—before one of them becomes the next victim…” |
The writing style is signature Mercedes Lackey, with plenty of lavish description. To tell the truth, a lot of it doesn't really need to be there, but it's nice to know what things look like, especially when our main character is thrust so suddenly into an unknown environment. I've never really minded the descriptive passages she tends to put in, because I don't feel like she overuses them very often, and the stories are generally good enough to be worth it.
I've got to say, though, that this one does take a good long while to get warmed up. I suppose that must be more or less normal for a mystery—the slow build up of clues and portents until eventually everything comes together and somebody gets killed. In this case, it has the added bonus that the death is covered up, which means the suspense can go on building right up to the climax. (Although in my opinion the trip into the basement was a lost opportunity.) Also, it may be that I've just read enough by Mercedes Lackey to know what she likes, but it takes them much longer to identify the culprit than I would have thought. Possibly these teenagers aren't like me and didn't read the right sort of books. I pretty much had it after the first attack.
Now, the good stuff. The build up of suspense really is well done, as I mentioned before. And I enjoy the fact that it's compounded by the need to keep acting as if everything was normal. It just adds that extra bit of complexity to the kids' problems. And I like that they're perceptive enough to figure out what the teachers are doing and thwart it. The interplay of personalities is very well done. These kids remind me of the best kind of high school friendships, although most friend in high school don't have to go out and save the world from supernatural forces, or hide the fact that they're friends. I also quite liked the weapons they come up with for the final battle, even if some of them are reused from other series. And it shouldn't take anyone by surprise that they have to use every last contingency plan to win. I'd have been disappointed if they didn't. The ending leaves plenty of problems unresolved for a future installment (which is currently sitting on my nightstand waiting to be read), and I have a few predictions about what's going to happen. That's always a nice bonus when dealing with a series—leaving the reader happily guessing.
The only other observation I have is that there really are a whole lot of kids at that school with very unusual names. And apparently, the only time that entire families mysteriously die is when their magician child reaches some point in their teens. Surprisingly small age range for an orphanage.