Friday, December 12, 2008

Persistence of Memory-Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Persistence of Memory
Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Delacorte, Dec 2008, $13.99
ISBN: 9780385734370

Like many sixteen-year-old high school students, Erin Misrahe struggles to belong to any crowd, but she is different. When stressed out sweet Erin turns into violent Shevaun; she hurts those nearby and when she reverts back to prime ego, she has no idea how she got where she is and what she did to others. Diagnosed by doctors as a mental illness, she is sent to the hospital and medicated.

When she is released and enrolls at Nefershen Public High School where Erin makes friends with fencing team member Marissa who she see shift into a tigress. Assumed that she had another psychotic incident, Erin is back at the ward. When she awakens she is in a different place with a man claiming to be her husband Adjila the witch and that she is Shevaun the vampire. They want to know why Erin and Shevaun switch places so they can end that tie if necessary by killing the human teen.

This is an excellent young adult fantasy thriller that anchors the exhilarating story line in the mundane human realm through the beleaguer teen’s high school, family, and even the psycho ward; yet also insures the fantasy world once she crosses over (with readers) feels genuine. The cast is solid in both environs especially Erin. Amelia Atwater-Rhodes’s fabulous tale is all about reality is in the eye of the beholder.

Harriet Klausner

No comments: