Diabolical (Tantalize Series #4)

by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Overview

Prepare for a hell of a ride as Cynthia Leitich Smith calls on characters from her previous novels — and conjures up new ones — for a climactic showdown.

When “slipped” angel Zachary and his werewolf pal, Kieren, arrive under suspicious circumstances to a mysterious New England boarding school, they quickly find themselves in a hellish lockdown with an intriguing assortment of secretive, hand-picked students. Plagued by demon dogs, hallucinatory wall décor, a sadistic instructor, and a legendary fire-breathing monster, will they somehow manage to escape? Or will the devil have his due? Best-selling author Cynthia Leitich Smith unites heroes from the previous three novels in the Tantalize Series — including Zachary’s girl, Miranda, and Kieren’s love, Quincie — along with a fascinating cast of all-new characters for a suspenseful, action-packed clash between the forces of heaven and hell.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763659639
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	01/24/2012
Series:	Tantalize Series , #4
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Lexile:	HL660L (what's this?)
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Cynthia Leitich Smith is the acclaimed and best-selling author of Tantalize, Eternal, and Blessed as well as Tantalize: Kieren’s Story, a graphic novel illustrated by Ming Doyle. She lives in Austin, Texas.

In suburban Kansas City, I began as a child poet and grew into a journalist. I was the editor of my junior-high and high-school newspapers. I went on to study journalism at the University of Kansas and law at the University of Michigan Law School.

Along the way, I had a ton of jobs. I worked as a popcorn popper at a movie theater, a cashier at a gas station, a waitress at a Mexican restaurant, a switchboard operator for a bank, a telemarketer, and a receptionist for a small law firm. I served as a reporting intern for various small-town papers and the Dallas Morning News as well as a marketing intern for a greeting-card company in Kansas City, an oil company in Oklahoma, and a nonprofit organization in Topeka. I also held summer/semester clerkships at a judge’s office in Kansas, a small women’s-rights firm in Michigan, and a legal aid in Hawaii.

After graduation I moved to Chicago, where I worked briefly in the law office of the Department of Health and Human Services. But after six months (and a long talk with some ducks in Lake Michigan), I quit my day job to write full time. I eventually relocated and settled in Austin.

I love to literally plunge into my fictional worlds.

For Tantalize, I went house shopping for my characters, confessed my intentions to the realtors, and walked away with floor plans and photos. At the local coffee shop, I tapped hirsute folks on the shoulder and asked if I could take pictures of them to use as models for shape-shifters. I also made a point to dine at every Italian restaurant in Austin.

For the New York Times best-selling novel Eternal, I walked every Chicago street that my characters did, trying to see the landscape anew through their eyes. I made notes about the sounds, the smells, the chill in the air. The ink in my pen froze on Navy Pier, and I ended up cutting that scene anyway.

For the Feral trilogy, I strolled ash-strewn acres of Texas that had been ravaged by wildfires and spent hours at Austin’s rescue zoo communing with lions.

Hearts Unbroken was more of a journey into memory. I had to revisit being a teen journalist whose editorials sometimes crossed swords with suburban Kansas sensibilities. I had to reflect on what it felt like to navigate Native identity on every level, sometimes in the face of bigotry, while also seeking joy and celebrating daily life, culture, and community.

What I love most about being a young adult author is hearing from young adult readers!
I’m happy to answer questions about my novels and to recommend additional books by other authors.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Runs full force on the fires of hell and the sword power of heaven... The ultimate showdown is a Harry Potter-worthy battle between good and evil-but with a welcome dose of devilish humor...Demonically inspired by Stoker's DRACULA and divinely imagined into the present day, the series blends supernatural adventure with real adolescent preoccupations, from homework to hormones.
—The Horn Book

If the HARRY POTTER and TWILIGHT series conceived a child, DIABOLICAL would be it. This supernatural story takes place at a mysteriously dangerous boarding school... Think Hogwarts. But move over Jacob, there is a new werewolf in town named Kieren. His girlfriend, Quincie, is a vampire and his best friend, Zachary, is a fallen angel who lost his wings when he revealed himself to a human teen and fell in love with her. Together, this menagerie of magical creatures pretend to enlist at this spooky academy in order to protect another friend, Lucy, who has recently enrolled and whose life may be in peril due to the supernatural shenanigans that occur... For readers who are thirsting for more dark, paranormal fiction, this novel fits the bill.
—VOYA

Editorial Reviews

Gr 9 Up—Lucifer is up to his evil tricks again. This time he is corrupting the souls of innocents under the guise of a reputable boarding school in Vermont. When Miranda, a redeemed vampire in Penultimate (limbo/weigh station for ascending souls) discovers that her friend Lucy has enrolled at the evil Scholomance Academy, she asks her love and former guardian angel, Zachary, to investigate. He enlists the help of his friend Kieren, a werewolf, and his girlfriend Quincie, a vampire. Along with the other students at the academy they quickly find themselves up against pure sadistic evil. Told from the alternating points of view of the four main characters, this captivating story combines action, suspense, and romance with just the right touch of humor to keep it entertaining. A great finish to an original and satisfying series.—Donna Rosenblum, Floral Park Memorial High School, NY

School Library Journal

Runs full force on the fires of hell and the sword power of heaven... The ultimate showdown is a Harry Potter-worthy battle between good and evil-but with a welcome dose of devilish humor...Demonically inspired by Stoker's DRACULA and divinely imagined into the present day, the series blends supernatural adventure with real adolescent preoccupations, from homework to hormones.
—The Horn Book

If the Harry Potter and Twilight series conceived a child, DIABOLICAL would be it. This supernatural story takes place at a mysteriously dangerous boarding school... Think Hogwarts. But move over Jacob, there is a new werewolf in town named Kieren. His girlfriend, Quincie, is a vampire and his best friend, Zachary, is a fallen angel who lost his wings when he revealed himself to a human teen and fell in love with her. Together, this menagerie of magical creatures pretend to enlist at this spooky academy in order to protect another friend, Lucy, who has recently enrolled and whose life may be in peril due to the supernatural shenanigans that occur... For readers who are thirsting for more dark, paranormal fiction, this novel fits the bill.
—VOYA

A smart, playful series... A blend of romance, action and horror, this distinguishes itself from the crowd of paranormal teen fare with the employ of plenty of camp and a healthy dose of dry humor... fans of the first three will thrill to this latest.
—Kirkus Reviews

Told from the alternating points of view of the four main characters, this captivating story combines action, suspense, and romance with just the right touch of humor to keep it entertaining. A great finish to an original and satisfying series.
—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

A werewolf, a guardian angel and a former vampire princess take turns narrating the fourth in this smart, playful series that began with Tantalize (2007). Miranda renounced her blood-sucking ways in 2009's Eternal and has since been stuck in limbo at a hotel called the Penultimate somewhere between Earth and Heaven. From there, she keeps tabs on her best friend, Lucy, and is dismayed to see her arrive at Scholomance Preparatory Academy, a boarding school in rural Vermont that may be a place of great evil. She sends word to her soul mate, the guardian angel Zachary, who sets out with werewolf/human hybrid Kieren and his girlfriend Quincie to investigate the matter. A blend of romance, action and horror, this distinguishes itself from the crowd of paranormal teen fare with the employ of plenty of camp and a healthy dose of dry humor, as in this passage where Zachary attempts to prove his angel status to Lucy: " 'Demons have scaly, dragonlike, clawed wings,' I counter. 'Not gleaming, white, eagle-like...pretty wings.' That sounded lame. Luminous is the word Quincie uses. I should have said that." However, the pacing of this installment drags in places, particularly in the sections narrated by Miranda, so far in remove from the main event. This flaw aside, fans of the first three will thrill to this latest. (Paranormal romance. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews