Kaylee is going to die. Not at some point down the line. Not after a long, fulfilled ban sidhe life... Soon. Very soon. In a couple of days, in fact. Her name is on The List, and there are not further loopholes for her. How does she handle this? How do her friends and family cope?
This
development caught me completely by surprise - what an unexpected whammy! The whole story has something…mehrKaylee is going to die. Not at some point down the line. Not after a long, fulfilled ban sidhe life... Soon. Very soon. In a couple of days, in fact. Her name is on The List, and there are not further loopholes for her. How does she handle this? How do her friends and family cope?
This development caught me completely by surprise - what an unexpected whammy! The whole story has something surreal about it; there aren't many healthy teenagers who spend their last few days in the full knowledge that their end is coming for them. Kayle is unbelievably brave about it, even though her heart sometimes feels like it's about to break. But she is much more accepting of her death than the people around her. Especially her father tries everything and anything to save his daughter one more time.
Is this really the end? Is this the last curtain for Kaylee, forever?
Trying to give her death some purpose and meaning, Kaylee embarks on her last rescue mission: an incubus has infested her school, in the guise of her handsome Maths teacher Mr. Beck - that an infatuated Emma is drooling over. But she's far from the only girl that succumbs to his charms, and for a few of them it quickly turns into a matter of life and death...
Pro:
I was very impressed by how delicate and sensitive the author handles a very serious topic in this novel - the death of a young person way before her time. Within a few short days, Kaylee grows mature beyond her years and looks towards her end with dignity and composure, taking a few difficult, final decisions along the way. As understandable as that would be, she doesn't wallow in self-pity, and yet it never is less than a tragedy. The other characters' reactions are very different, but all believable and heart-wrenching.
I don't want to give too much away, so I'll just stay mum about the other pros! ;)
Contra:
The ending was maybe a bit too... convenient, with all the hard, jagged edges smoothed out. Don't get me wrong, it was suspenseful, unexpected and fast-paced, but a few things get solved too easily. On the other hand, maybe it had to be this way or there wouldn't be a book 6.
All in all, I have to say that this is my favorite book of the whole series (I have read them all already). I could not put it away until I was done!