The Unfailing Light

Gr 9 Up—The teenaged Duchess of Oldenburg, Katerina Alexandrovna, continues to come to terms with her necromantic powers and her forbidden love for George Alexandrovitch, son of the tsar, who is now training to become the Koldun, the tsar's chief wizard. She must also battle a dangerous ghost that is haunting her finishing school and an undead tsar who wishes to return to power. Set in an alternate 1889 Russia where magic is real and St. Petersburg's population includes faeries, werewolves, and several different kinds of vampires, this volume has many of the same strengths and weaknesses as the previous book in the series. The setting is fascinating and quite different from what we have seen in other YA paranormal fiction. Readers will find themselves turning to Wikipedia to find out more about Russian history and the historical characters who appear in the novel. However, there are occasional odd anachronisms, and often the supernatural world-building is vague. Sometimes the residents of St. Petersburg seem matter-of-fact about magic, and at other times it seems to be secret and forbidden. It is never quite clear why Katerina is so reluctant to learn more about her powers, or why she wants to become a doctor. Purchase where the first volume is popular.—Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ