Extraordinary (ARC Review)

Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin

Synopsis:
Phoebe finds herself drawn to Mallory, the strange and secretive new kid in school, and the two girls become as close as sisters . . . until Mallory’s magnetic older brother, Ryland, shows up during their junior year. Ryland has an immediate, exciting hold on Phoebe, but a dangerous hold, for she begins to question her feelings about her best friend and, worse, about herself.

Soon she’ll discover the shocking truth about Ryland and Mallory: that these two are visitors from the faerie realm who have come to collect on an age-old debt. Generations ago, the faerie queen promised Pheobe’s ancestor five extraordinary sons in exchange for the sacrifice of one ordinary female heir. But in hundreds of years there hasn’t been a single ordinary girl in the family, and now the faeries are dying. Could Phoebe be the first ordinary one? Could she save the faeries, or is she special enough to save herself?

Review:
This has to be the oddest book I’ve read all year.  Not only were the characters and setting strange, the writing style was also odd. What was with all the incomplete sentences and the repeating of words and phrases?! It was both not enough and too much at the same time, which as perplexing as it may sound, just left me unsure about my opinion regarding this book.

The story opens with Phoebe and Mallory in seventh grade. Mallory, the new girl, has worn a cheap fairy Halloween custom to school with nothing underneath, and her classmates make fun of her. Naturally, Phoebe, a girl from a very privileged background, examines Mallory and sees an opportunity to leave her superficial friends behind by befriending the strangely dressed new girl. 

Four years later, the girls are inseparable. Phoebe and her parents have done a lot for Mallory and her mentally unstable mother. All seems to be going well until Mallory reveals that she has a brother, Ryland, who is coming to live with her and her mother. Phoebe is shocked. In all the time they have been friends, Mallory has never mentioned a brother. Soon after he arrives, Phoebe finds herself attracted to him and wanting to please him.

From there, the story takes a very expected turn when Phoebe discovers that Mallory and Ryland are faeries, and have been sent to convince Phoebe that she is not extraordinary in any way because the Faerie realm is dying, and they need a sacrifice. They want Phoebe to be that sacrifice. But can Phoebe give up her ordinary life to save a whole race?  

I know the story was supposed to be about Phoebe and her finding her own way to be special, but that is not what kept me interested in the story. I was more interested in Mallory. She was an awkward character, but it worked in her favor because she was not human, but she was living as one. So I found myself feeling hopeful for her and wondering if she would find a place to fit in. 

The story wasn’t at all confusing, but I did feel like I was in a fog while reading it. The sections titled, Conversation with the Faerie Queen, which weren’t exactly story chapters, but small exerts thrust into the story in between chapters, were completely annoying and totally unnecessary. They reveled the whole plot and left with nothing to guess at. Needless to say, it created an unstimulating reading experience.

Unfortunately, Extraordinary fails to be an extraordinary novel. Nothing you need to own, but probably an okay library find. I wish I could say more, but I’m at a loss. 

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Posted at 5:36 pm  •  Labels: 2010, 3 stars, Book it Forward, Book Review, Faeries, YA