From the Publisher
Fast-paced and difficult to put down, this exciting story will satisfy fans and likely gain new readers for the series.
—VOYA
VOYA
- Lisa Hazlett
Thomas, once popular and involved within his exclusive high school, is now undergoing counseling after his girlfriend, Belle, suddenly dumps him to supposedly study abroad with her siblings in this Another series finale. Worse, Belle's alluring governess, Nicola, marries Thomas's widowed father, adeptly separating them while inserting herself into Thomas's private life. Had he not been perpetually high from pills offered while clubbing, Thomas would have realized earlier each pill was increasingly allowing Nicola's son, Edward, possession of his body. His death allows Nicola, an ancient demon, and Edward's continued immortality. As Edward, Thomas suffers blackouts and commits a vicious hate crime, but forces his own intelligence and cunning to surface, slowly overpowering him. In between battling Edward and Nicola, Thomas locates Belle and her siblings, and in an unexpected and shocking act, risks all to destroy the evil duo. His success is discovered in the unforeseen, delicious final twist. Loosely based on the Jekyll and Hyde story, the text moves throughout time and uses both third- and first-person narrative to relay the main story, Nicola's thoughts and fascinating historical encounters, Thomas's journal, and his struggles with Edward. Essentially a stand-alone novel, its first chapters assume backstory—confusing until the focus moves to Thomas and his revisiting past events. Fast-paced and difficult to put down, this exciting story will satisfy fans and likely gain new readers for the series. Reviewer: Lisa Hazlett
School Library Journal
Gr 8 Up—Madame Vileroy is as evil as ever. She is joined by several other characters from Another Faust (2009) and Another Pan (2010, both Candlewick) as she returns to the exclusive prep school Marlowe Academy. The demon-governess is once again stalking wealthy New York teens, putting their lives and souls at risk so that she can achieve immortality. Her newest victims are golden boy Thomas Goodman-Brown and his billionaire father. Using her powers of persuasion and deception, Vileroy becomes, much to Thomas's horror, his stepmother. Once installed in the Goodman-Brown mansion, she begins implementing her plan to destroy Thomas's soul and mind and resurrect the son she herself murdered centuries earlier. But Thomas may prove to be far stronger and more resourceful than Vileroy suspects. Though occasionally frustratingly stupid, he is a likable character, and the story provides enough suspense and mystery to keep readers engaged. However, many teens will be lost in several places if they haven't read the previous volumes, and the authors' attempts to fill in the backstory feel awkward and are not fully illuminating. Recommended where the series is popular.—Anthony C. Doyle, Livingston High School, CA
Kirkus Reviews
One of the Marlowe students finds his internal conflicts becoming all-too external, Jekyll-and-Hyde style, in the conclusion to the Another… series. Following his sudden break-up with Belle Faust in Another Faust (2009), Thomas Goodman-Brown hasn't been the same. Everyone thinks him constantly intoxicated (without justification; it's only occasional), but really he's reeling from the after-effects of the magic the Faust children used on him. A combination of his presumed guilt and the strain of his father's marriage to the missing Belle's governess Nicola Vileroy leads to Thomas' acceptance of a mystery drug at a club. Soon, Thomas is blacking out, students are being attacked and Vileroy drops a bombshell: There's a new stepbrother for Thomas, apart from her adopted Faust children. With help from briefly returning Another Faust and Another Pan (2010) characters, Thomas slowly pieces together how his troubles tie into Vileroy's motives. The prose is peppered with delightfully witty one-liners--the humor goes a long way toward keeping Thomas likable. The narration mostly follows Thomas, creating a focus that both enables his believable disorientation from the drug and allows his personal risks to elevate the story's tension. The preludes at chapter beginnings complete the story of who and what Vileroy is, building upon each other until questions raised by the previous novels have been answered. A high-stakes conclusion that satisfies. (Fantasy. 14 & up)
