A Beautiful Evil

Gr 9 Up—Percy Jackson meets Anne Rice in a familiar meal of a book that includes some paranormal standby ingredients vigorously blended with Greek myth. A post-hurricane-apocalyptic New Orleans called New 2 is owned and run by nine magical families that make up the Novem. Nothing much is fresh in this series that began with Darkness Becomes Her (S & S, 2011), but the dilemma of 17-year-old protagonist Ari does stand out. Offspring of a cursed Gorgon who fell in love with a hunter of goddess Athena's army, she sports a head full of shiny white hair that can be turned into writhing snakes when she is spelled or antagonized, presumably allowing her to turn people to stone. Ari fears that her Gorgon state will become permanent at 21, but she may be one of the only beings capable of killing a god, perhaps even Athena herself, the source of her line's curse and the antagonist who wishes to use her as weapon. Ari attends the Novem's exclusive school with Sebastian, her half witch, half vampire love interest. She trains for an eventual showdown with Athena, surviving bouts with Bran, a demigod, and researches at the secret library to reach the mystical temple and win back her father and friend, taken captive by the steely goddess at the end of book one. Nice New Orleans flavor seasons the mix, but it's still derivative. That said, a lot of teens who gobble up supernatural romances or those who enjoyed the first book won't complain.—Suzanne Gordon, Lanier High School, Sugar Hill, GA