Apollo’s Review of Entangled

I would give Entangled by Nikki Jefford a bright yellow sun, the kind you rarely find in Seattle, or London.  A glorious full sun in February, where humans stare longingly out the window wishing to be outside in the warm rays.

This dark paranormal tale weaves a suspenseful and haunting mix of witches, warlocks and the angst of vacillating teens.

Graylee, our main character, was a good witch, and at one time thought to be quite gifted.  She played by the rules (with a couple of exceptions), played nice with the other witches and warlocks, and even tried to play nice with the humans she goes to school with.

And then she dies.

This is where the drama starts to unfold.  She wakes up months later inside her twin sister’s body, but it isn’t like she is going to get to stay there indefinitely.  There is a crash course in witch-ology, and the befriending of a morally-questionable warlock, all which add fun and adventure to the mystery of how Graylee died, who killed her, and what to do about it.

While who killed her isn’t really a surprise, there are a few surprises that unfold throughout the story.  Ms. Jefford does an exquisite job of making the villain truly despicable, and the protagonist while naïve, is usually endearingly so.  Character development was well done, and we grow with the protagonist, and can appreciate her wisdom as she gains experience.  Although at times she acts egocentric and immature, a definite shift from her typical behavior, this is somewhat true to the typical teen.

Perhaps my favorite character is Raj, the tortured warlock who seeks to help Graylee in her quest.  He is a mixture of immoral and noble, gentle and cruel, and quite formidable at times.  There was depth to Raj, and I get the distinct feeling that we are going to discover more about him.

Overall, I enjoyed Entangled, consumed it in two sittings; pausing only to attend a ridiculous Olympus council meeting that Artemis reminds me is a must.  I guess you could equate it with ‘work’ in your world.

Raye has informed me that she’s added Duplicity to the TBR pile.  Perhaps I won’t wait for her to read it first…