Helpful Score: 2
Need is very aptly named. Once I started reading it, I felt an overwhelming need to continue the very addictive story.
Need joins the crowded ranks of recent YA fiction written about the fae - but this novel focuses on pixies. Don't be expecting Tinkerbell. These critters are nothing like the miniature, winged pranksters that have endeared generations of little girls. These pixies are nasty, conniving, blood-thirsty creatures -- and they're after Need's heroine, 16-year-old Zara.
Zara is a very relatable character. She recently lost her stepfather, and her mother sent her away from her home in Charleston to live with her grandmother in the backwoods of Maine to try to shake her out of depression and despair. But once she arrives, strange things begin to happen. She sees a dark man staring at her from out of the woods, at home, at the airport and at school. She finds strange glittering dust everywhere she goes. And all over town, boys are disappearing without a trace -- like they did once before.
Zara also finds that her new town is steeped in superstition and legend, and although she quickly makes new friends -- including handsome and magnetic Nick, and athletic, golden boy Ian -- it seems like everyone has a secret. And Zara soon realizes that she, herself, has secrets she didn't even know about.
I didn't give Need five stars because I found certain plot points a bit predictable -- but readers not as familiar with with genre or fairy mythology might have felt differently. Overall, I really enjoyed Need. It's reminiscent of Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series, although not quite as dark. The romance is compelling, and I really liked the relationship between Zara and her grandmother. I even liked the mysterious Pixie King, who's not introduced until the very end of the book.
However, I liked Zara herself the most. Her quirky tendancy to recite phobias was an interesting device, and I liked her feelings of responsibility to others and interest in non-violence and amnesty. Although I'm sure some people will draw parallels between Need and Twilight, the heriones couldn't be more different. Zara doesn't want to be the damsel in distress in need of saving. She wants to do the saving herself -- and in the end, she does.
Need joins the crowded ranks of recent YA fiction written about the fae - but this novel focuses on pixies. Don't be expecting Tinkerbell. These critters are nothing like the miniature, winged pranksters that have endeared generations of little girls. These pixies are nasty, conniving, blood-thirsty creatures -- and they're after Need's heroine, 16-year-old Zara.
Zara is a very relatable character. She recently lost her stepfather, and her mother sent her away from her home in Charleston to live with her grandmother in the backwoods of Maine to try to shake her out of depression and despair. But once she arrives, strange things begin to happen. She sees a dark man staring at her from out of the woods, at home, at the airport and at school. She finds strange glittering dust everywhere she goes. And all over town, boys are disappearing without a trace -- like they did once before.
Zara also finds that her new town is steeped in superstition and legend, and although she quickly makes new friends -- including handsome and magnetic Nick, and athletic, golden boy Ian -- it seems like everyone has a secret. And Zara soon realizes that she, herself, has secrets she didn't even know about.
I didn't give Need five stars because I found certain plot points a bit predictable -- but readers not as familiar with with genre or fairy mythology might have felt differently. Overall, I really enjoyed Need. It's reminiscent of Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series, although not quite as dark. The romance is compelling, and I really liked the relationship between Zara and her grandmother. I even liked the mysterious Pixie King, who's not introduced until the very end of the book.
However, I liked Zara herself the most. Her quirky tendancy to recite phobias was an interesting device, and I liked her feelings of responsibility to others and interest in non-violence and amnesty. Although I'm sure some people will draw parallels between Need and Twilight, the heriones couldn't be more different. Zara doesn't want to be the damsel in distress in need of saving. She wants to do the saving herself -- and in the end, she does.
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