Format: Trade Paperback Pages: 320
Published: April 1, 2011
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Genre: YA Fantasy, Paranormal, Suspense
Description:
Two years ago, Brenna did the unthinkable. She witnessed the aftermath of a murder and accused her only true friend--the first boy she ever loved--of being a killer.
Now sixteen, Brenna returns to Oklahoma only to discover that Isaac "White Bird" Henry isn't in juvie. The half-breed outcast is in a mental hospital, frozen in time, locked in his mind at the worst moment of his life. And when Brenna touches him, she's pulled into his hellish vision quest, seeing terrifying demons and illusions she doesn't understand.
Feeling isolated and alone, she's up against the whole town, targeted by bullying former classmates, a bigoted small town sheriff, and a tribe who refuses to help one of their own. But when Brenna realizes she's as trapped by the past as White Bird is, this time she won't turn her back on him. She's the only one who can free them both.
Even if she has to expose her secret--a "gift" she's kept hidden her whole life.
Review:
In The Arms of Stone Angels was overall a really good book. Jordan Dane, usually a writer of adult suspense novels, writes a YA parnormal suspense novel here for the first time. The characters of Brenna and White Bird are fleshed out well and the murder is set up nicely leaving the reader on the edge of their seat wanting to know who the real killer is. Brenna, having turned White Bird into the police, is on her own personal quest to save him now that she is back in Oklahoma, which proves to be one suspense filled adventure after another. However, White Bird is catatonic in a hospital, so he is not a major player in the whole of the book, except in Brenna's dreams and visions.
While Jordan Dane nailed the suspense, I was slightly disappointed that she changed from first to third person point of view so often. Frist person (told by Brenna) read like a young adult novel, while thrid person read like an adult suspense novel. This made the novel slightly disjointed and lack cohesion. Also, the paranormal element was very, very light. Other than the occasional flash or vision of a dead person, most of the paranormal elements are drawn from the Native American beliefs and practices of Shamanism.
Jordan Dane captured the voice of her characters well and ventured into depths of teen angst most authors won't. The suspense was fantastic and surprising. This book was well-written and held my attention and I will definitely be picking up Jordan Dane's next book, only with less expectations of the paranormal.
Rate: 4/5
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