Author: Brenna Yovanoff
Publisher: Razorbill
Publication Date: August 14, 2014
Rating: 3.5 stars
Clementine DeVore spent ten years trapped in a cellar, pinned down by willow roots, silenced and forgotten.
Now she’s out and determined to uncover who put her in that cellar and why.
When Clementine was a child, dangerous and inexplicable things started happening in New South Bend. The townsfolk blamed the fiendish people out in the Willows and burned their homes to the ground. But magic kept Clementine alive, walled up in the cellar for ten years, until a boy named Fisher sets her free. Back in the world, Clementine sets out to discover what happened all those years ago. But the truth gets muddled in her dangerous attraction to Fisher, the politics of New South Bend, and the Hollow, a fickle and terrifying place that seems increasingly temperamental ever since Clementine reemerged. -Summary from Goodreads
Fiendish is set in a small town in the Midwest
where normal and “crooked” (people who have fiends in their family tree) live
side by side. Naturally a lot of tension builds up between these two groups.
Prejudice and dislike abound, but, for the most part, besides the Reckoning, people
keep their pitchforks in their closets. The town itself is like an important side
character. It has its own culture and personality, and its journey is vital to
the story. The natural world is infused with magic creating an awesome setting.
The magic itself isn’t explained, it just is, which makes it seem wild and
natural. You get the sense that although people sometimes use it, there’s really
no way to control it. It is its own being.
I
loved the beginning of the book, it is so creepy and beautiful at the same
time (the beauty comes from Yovanoff's writing). Clementine has been stuck in the cellar of her house for 10 years when
Fisher finds her and gets her out. One issue I have with the book is that even
though she has been under a spell for all that time, it doesn’t seem like her
mind is affected. It said that she was aware of the world during that time and
she watched it somehow, but it is very vague. I thought she adjusted to the
world a little too easily. The only thing that seemed to throw her off was the
change in her cousin and aunt, other than that she seemed very self-assured for
someone who has been out of the world for a decade. Overall, her character just
felt underdeveloped.
I
thought that the romance was also kind of flat. There’s nothing I hated about
it, but there wasn’t anything I liked about it either. I guess I just couldn’t
understand what Clementine and Fisher saw in each other besides the fact that
they’re both strange.
The
best thing about this book is the beautiful writing style and the amazing
setting. Yovanoff brings this world to life through her words, and the terrifying
and ugly within it are also at the same time intriguing and beautiful. Even the normal things
she describes seem magical. If you’re looking for a good stand-alone book for
Halloween, Fiendish may be for you.
-Christina
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