July 17, 2011

In the Arms of Stone Angels - a solid 5 out of 5 starts

In the Arms of Stone Angels (Harlequin Teen)In the Arms of Stone Angels (Harlequin Teen) by Jordan Dane

After recently reading a book with a whiny young adult character, this book was refreshingly good with a strong character coupled with a superb plot and great character development. 

Jordan Dane weaves a tale about two teenagers who care deeply about each other, drawn into the after effects of an evil plot to kill a girl at the top rungs of the local mean girl click - but it is so much more than that. The main character, Brenna, can see spirits and has a touch of sixth sense. The boy she grew to love, half Native American White Bird, is accused of a murder that even Brenna believes he may have committed, but he is in a catatonic state in the local mental hospital and isn't telling any tales. From there Brenna slowly unravels a mystery that keeps you guessing until the end. 

Dane weaves this tale using both first person narrative and third person limited narrative. Not many authors can jump from first person to third person smoothly enough to keep the reader from taking notice with an abruptly disturbing the reader. Dane makes her transitions so smoothly, however, that I remained entranced by the story. 

While I was reading this book the characters became very real to me as I was drawn into the story. Dane's character development is seamless and nearly perfect. Every book, however, has a flaw and this book was no exception. The only flaw in this book was the periodic over use of the word "real" (i.e. "real hard," "real fast," "real sorry," etc. I noticed it first in the first person narrative by the teenager and figured it was part of Dane's character development of a young voice, but then it began to occur with the third person adults' narrative. Still, in spite of that small error, this book still rates a solid 5 out of 5 as one an excellent young adult title.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

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