{"id":25300,"date":"2014-09-18T20:43:40","date_gmt":"2014-09-19T00:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=25300"},"modified":"2014-09-18T20:43:40","modified_gmt":"2014-09-19T00:43:40","slug":"review-of-extraordinary-by-nancy-werlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=25300","title":{"rendered":"Review of Extraordinary, by Nancy Werlin"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"extraordinary_large\"<\/a>Extraordinary<\/em><\/p>\n

by Nancy Werlin<\/p>\n

Speak (Penguin), 2010. 393 pages.
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

After reading Nancy Werlin\u2019s Impossible<\/a><\/em> on the plane on the way to Portland, Oregon, I went to two different Powell\u2019s locations looking for the sequels. And had them finished before I got home.<\/p>\n

Extraordinary<\/em> isn\u2019t exactly a sequel to Impossible<\/em>, but it\u2019s got a similar element of Faery and our world interacting with one another. And the third book, Unthinkable<\/em>, has threads from each of the previous two books. So you don\u2019t have to read the first and second books in order, but it\u2019s good to have read them before you read the third book.<\/p>\n

In a short section called \u201cConversation with the Faerie Queen, 1,\u201d which appears before \u201cChapter 1,\u201d we learn that a faerie girl is being sent into the human realm.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are anxious. Naturally. It is a great deal of responsibility. But remember, your way has been prepared. The Tolliver woman will believe you to be her own human daughter, miraculously restored to her. Grief, depression, and loneliness have caused her to lose herself, so she will gratefully accept your guidance in all things, young though you are. Managing her will be easy for you; you will give her certain human medications to keep her under your influence, and you will use her money for all your needs in the human realm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand. And the Rothschild girl?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe girl is of course your main focus. You will observe her at school. I need not tell you again that everything — everything<\/em> — depends on her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stakes are high.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrighteningly high, at this point. It is useless to deny it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Chapter One begins with the sentence: \u201cPhoebe Gutle Rothschild met Mallory Tolliver in seventh grade, during the second week of the new school year, in homeroom.\u201d From the conversation with the Faerie Queen, we know something\u2019s up, that something\u2019s at stake, but we don\u2019t know what. Mallory is being talked about by everyone for how peculiar she is.<\/p>\n

However, Phoebe decides to be Mallory\u2019s friend. Mallory meets again with the Faerie Queen:<\/p>\n

\u201cBut child, what you\u2019re saying doesn\u2019t make sense. You are absolutely sure the Rothschild girl is the right one? And yet you say she is not ready?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, she is the right one, and yes, she is not ready. That other human girl that we were watching, the one called Colette \u2013 she had not achieved what we thought she had. The Rothschild girl was fighting back. While she is not very self-assured, she has personal strength of will. Your Majesty, I now understand that when we observe human activity from outside, we can be mistaken when we try to interpret what it means.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mallory goes from saying she can finish in a few days to a few weeks, and then to a few years. We pick up the story four years later \u2013 \u201cfour good, solid years of best-friendship later.\u201d One day, Mallory tells Phoebe that her half-brother is coming to live with her and her mother. Phoebe doesn\u2019t believe it at first. Mallory has never mentioned a brother before.<\/p>\n

Mallory\u2019s brother Ryland is older and incredibly handsome. And he is very interested in Phoebe. And it doesn\u2019t take long before Phoebe is obsessed with him. But why do they have to keep it secret from Mallory? And what is Mallory trying to tell her?<\/p>\n

We\u2019re eventually going to learn what the Faerie world wants with Phoebe Rothschild and what the high stakes are. And we also get a look at friendship and self-esteem and character \u2013 all with magical undertones that stretch into our world. And the story of a generations-long bargain made with the Fae.<\/p>\n

This is a worthy successor to Impossible<\/em><\/p>\n

nancywerlin.com<\/a>
\npenguin.com\/teens<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Teens\/extraordinary.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on a book I purchased at Powell’s.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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