Review: Mind Games by Kiersten White

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Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future. 

Trapped in a school that uses girls with extraordinary powers as tools for corporate espionage, Annie and Fia are forced to choose over and over between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways… or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey. 

In a stunning departure from her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy, Kiersten White delivers a slick, edgy, heartstoppingly intense psychological thriller about two sisters determined to protect each other—no matter the cost.

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Kiersten White's Paranormalcy books missed the mark for me, but I was pleasantly surprised by her newest offering, Mind Games. I think it was actually the UK title, Sister Assassins, that really caught my attention - because I'm obsessed with assassins, especially female assassins - though, after reading, I feel that Mind Games is a more fitting title.

A detail that I feel I should touch on is that the book has been marketed as an "intense psychological thriller about two sisters determined to protect each other," and while this may be technically true, I felt that the older sister, Annie, wasn't focused on nearly as much as Fia. I knew she was there in the plot, doing things, but I simply wasn't as concerned about her and I certainly wasn't as invested in her character.

However, I really enjoy Fia as a character. She's a dangerously broken individual that has the potential to turn dark, but she's inherently good. Because she sometimes lapses into immaturity and shows unexpected emotion, emotion that is the very opposite of the cutthroat assassin she's been trained to be, it's easy to see the Fia she could have been if her life hadn't been hijacked by the mysterious group that runs the "school" she and Annie attend.

The atmosphere of this novel (i.e. Fia, her boss, love interest, and the group that controls the sisters) are reminiscent of the characters and plot of shows like Alias and Nikita, which I think has a lot to do with why I liked Mind Games as much as I did. So many of the characters are more than they seem, hiding something, or have the potential to give into the power they yield and use it for evil rather than good. 

I feel that Mind Games is a great introduction to the world of Fia and Annie. The action had really picked up by the end of the novel, which I think bodes well for the next installment. 

HarperTeen, February 2013, Hardcover, ISBN: 9780062135315, 256 pages.

Review: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Title: Paranormalcy
Author: Kiersten White
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pub. Date: 8.31.2010
Genre: Paranormal YA
Keywords: Orphans, Powers, Paranormal Creatures, Love, Friendship
Pages: 352
Description (from GoodReads):
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.

You can't deny that Kiersten White's debut has a fantastic cover That alone will cause readers to flock, but it's Evie's charm and the unique plot that will entice them to stay... and ask for seconds.

The word I most closely associate with PARANORMALCY is fun. There's mystery, there's romance, but, mostly, this book is an engaging, quick read. At just over 350 pages, PARANORMLCY is one of the thicker YA volumes I've read of late, but, for the most part, the action moved at a quick pace and the chapters whizzed by.

I was impressed with the variety of fantastical and interesting characters White packed into Evie's world. She included the standard vampires, mermaids, etc, etc, but also cast a shapeshifter (without fur!) and many more, often creepy, creatures!

The one aspect of PARANORMALCY that I found lacking was the romance. It was cute, but it was missing the tension I'd hoped for. I liked the boy, I liked the girl, but I wanted more fire. Hopefully my tension-filled wishes will be fulfilled in the next installment!

Grade: B

Waiting on Wednesday (14)

WoW is hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine!

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White (HarperTeen,  Sept. 2010)
*no cover image yet
Sixteen-year-old Evie's job is bagging and tagging paranormals. Possessing the strange ability to see through their glamours, she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency. But when someone--or something--starts taking out the vamps, werewolves, and other odd beasties she's worked hard to help become productive members of society, she's got to figure it out before they all disappear and the world becomes utterly normal.

Since there isn't a cover image yet, I present:
A preview of Paranormalcy from Kiersten's website!

My name's Evie. I work for the IPCA. Yeah, the International Paranormal Containment Agency. But don't freak, I'm not a vamp or werewolf or faerie or anything. And I don't kill them, either. Just bag and tag. After all, we're not out to eliminate them--just to neuter them. Sorry, IPCA joke. We don't *actually* neuter them, because, well, yuck. We just help them live harmlessly among humans. Sometimes they don't want the help, but we give it to them anyway. Think of us as the UN, if the UN carried tasers and silver knives.

So you're probably wondering why a sixteen-year-old girl is the prize possession of the IPCA. I'm sure you know all about glamours--most paranormals have them, meaning normal people (okay, everyone else in the world except me) can't see what they really are. But there's no fooling me; I can see through to what they are underneath. Trust me: all of this nonsense about vampires being sexy?

NOT. TRUE.

So that's my life. Or, it was, until paranormals started dying and something unlike anything we'd seen before broke into the Center and changed everything...

Normal is so overrated.

Cannot wait for this book... and September is so terribly far away!