Betrayals
This was an excellent sequel to Strange Angels. Betrayals is a YA novel about a teenager, (Dru) who has recently lost her father (he was made into a zombie and attacked her in Strange Angels). Throughout her childhood, she spent time learning some unorthodox lessons from her mother, grandmother and father. The majority of her later childhood and teen life was spent with her father traveling the country fighting vampires, wulfen, and other supernatural entities. Dru and Graves continue their journey (growing up and trying to stay "safe"). Dru and Graves are taken to a school for wayward wulfen and dhampirs. They are supposed to get some training and be protected. Things aren't what they expected. They're not sure who to trust. Dru isn't even sure if she can trust Christophe, the dhampir who helps her and Graves at during the last part of Strange Angels. In fact, throughout Betrayals (and Strange Angels) there is the impression that Christophe could indeed go either way. I'm left with the impression that Dru still isn't sure about Christophe by the end of Betrayals.
There is some creepy/spooky stuff going on in this book. Dru is experiencing her own changes, as well as having to deal with the grief of losing her father, and all her other relatives. Graves is also going through changes, learning what being a loup-garou means. They are growing, maturing, learning about themselves - all while having to stay alert and fight the vampires and creepy-crawlies that are sent after Dru. Not only, that, but they have to deal with the hierarchy of highschool life and acceptance vs. being outcasts. Graves makes his way, while Dru at first is caught up in her head feeling sad, scared, hopeless and frustrated and in fact is so caught up in this that she almost puts her self in more danger than necessary.
Lili St. Crow's writing is excellent, gritty and at the same time lyrical. I always enjoy her books. Her characters are full of proper teen angst (but too much) just as teen agers often are, and they are also being forced to grow up fast. What I like about Dru and Graves is they aren't perfect. They are two awkward, social misfit teens forced into extraordinary situations. They act up, feel rage, feel awkwardness - everything we would probably feel as awkward teens. Lili St. Crow has done a great job of capturing the spirit, rage, angst and awkwardness of strong willed teenagers. Brings back memories of my teenhood.
While I think that Strange Angels was way more intense than Betrayals (how can you top killing your own zombie dad?) there was still some pretty intense scenes going on. The book was a little slower paced at the beginning than Strange Angels, but there was quite a build up going on, deliciously creepy build up with a very satisfying ending - except that you get the feeling they aren't being sent into even more danger....Even though the Romance angle keeps being played up, there is just the barest beginnings.
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