Sarah Beth Durst
Margaret K. McElderry Books
October 12th 2010
Young Adult | Fantasy | Paranormal
Margaret K. McElderry Books
October 12th 2010
Young Adult | Fantasy | Paranormal
Official Blurb -
What Lily Carter wants most in the world is to attend Princeton University just like her grandfather. When she finally visits the campus, Grandpa surprises her: She has been selected to take the top-secret Legacy Test. Passing means automatic acceptance to Princeton. Sweet!
Lily's test is to find the Ivy Key. But what is she looking for? Where does she start? As she searches, Lily is joined by Tye, a cute college boy with orange and black hair who says he's her guard. That's weird. But things get seriously strange when a gargoyle talks to her. He tells her that there are two Princetons—the ordinary one and a magical one—and the Key opens the gate between them. But there are more secrets that surround Lily. Worse secrets.
When Lily enters the magical Princeton, she uncovers old betrayals and new dangers, and a chance at her dream becomes a fight for her life. Soon Lily is caught in a power struggle between two worlds, with her family at its center. In a place where Knights slay monsters, boys are were-tigers, and dragons might be out for blood, Lily will need all of her ingenuity and courage—and a little magic—to unite the worlds and unlock the secrets of her past and her future.
This book is a very odd combination of characters and settings. On one side you have a very realistic side which consists of Princeton and a whole bunch of alumni. The other side consists of every fictional creature you can imagine. The two worlds are held together tenuously by a gate and lively gargoyles. It wouldn't seem that all these character types would get along together and perhaps they don't. Yet somehow these three different types of stories and characters are woven together in such a way as to be believable and mildly entertaining.
The character that was hardest for me to accept was the young man with naturally orange and black tiger striped hair. He just didn't strike me as attractive but more an extreme oddity right off the pages of some fantasy book. Once his identity as a were-tiger is revealed it makes more sense but still wasn't perfect. He is just meant to be an odd character that does really odd things. In the end the best I could do is accept him as the type of boy an eccentric girl could favor. The romance itself is very cutesy, a shallow school girl sort of an affair.
The mix of a factual world and a fictional world somehow works out. This book isn't really deep yet full of mystery and new reveals around each bend. A very nice read that won't take much time or effort.
The character that was hardest for me to accept was the young man with naturally orange and black tiger striped hair. He just didn't strike me as attractive but more an extreme oddity right off the pages of some fantasy book. Once his identity as a were-tiger is revealed it makes more sense but still wasn't perfect. He is just meant to be an odd character that does really odd things. In the end the best I could do is accept him as the type of boy an eccentric girl could favor. The romance itself is very cutesy, a shallow school girl sort of an affair.
The mix of a factual world and a fictional world somehow works out. This book isn't really deep yet full of mystery and new reveals around each bend. A very nice read that won't take much time or effort.
Content:
Language: Mild
Language: Mild
