At only sixteen years old, Evie has worked for the International Paranormal Containment Agency (IPCA) for as long as she can remember. After being abandoned as a baby and shuttling through foster homes, she was finally taken in by Raquel, a mother figure of sorts and the head of IPCA, an international organization that seeks to find, tag, and contain (duh) the plethora of paranormal creatures that abound in plain sight in normal society, unnoticed due to their glamours. Key to the existence of IPCA is Evie herself, whose ability to see through these glamours and identify the vampires, werewolves, hags, and other creatures enables IPCA’s existence. However, when a mysterious creature starts breaking into IPCA bases and killing paranormal creatures across the world, Evie discovers that she is far more important than she had ever dreamed. After finding out that she is at the center of an ancient faery prophecy, Evie teams up with Lend, a shape-shifter (one who Evie had bagged and tagged herself), to discover the truth behind her past and save the lives of the paranormals.

Although Kiersten White debuted at #7 on the New York Times Bestseller List with Paranormalcy, I was still initially reluctant to pick this book up, due to my extreme burnout with the paranormal genre, which seems to be spawning more derivative clones than a Hollywood studio. Ironically, while I have avoiding most paranormal books, I have recently become obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a show that I somehow missed in high school. Throughout the summer I’ve worked my way through Seasons 1-5 on Netflix Instant. Buffy’s snark, clever quips, and intrigue have found their match in Evie, whose straightforward, self-confident personality is well-fleshed out by first time author White. In fact, the character of Evie is what makes this novel, in my opinion. Rather than simply being a tale of a Mary Sue who falls in love with a ‘fill in the blank’ paranormal creature, Evie is a strong, kick-butt female heroine who glories in her femininity and seeks answers without whining.

The evolving romance between Evie and Lend is quite believable, as White shows the gradual progression of their initial attraction, growing flirtation, and subtle transition into love. One of my big pet peeves in YA literature is the ‘love at first sight, I must now sacrifice my entire life for you’ relationship. While Evie and Lend certainly don’t live a normal life, their romance is a believable mirror to real life teenage relationships. This romance, like the plot itself, is nicely paced–steady and not rushed, with just the right amount of exposition and illustration.

Also, simply put, Evie is real. She loves the color pink, is obsessed with the teen drama Easton Heights (who doesn’t love a character who loves TV as much as we do?), and yearns to experience the normal day-to-day life of a high school student. Most notably, she wavers between which path she should take, is vulnerable, questions herself, and isn’t perfect. This is incredibly refreshing to read.

One quibble I did have with Paranormalcy is the slight shrift that Evie’s relationship with the enigmatic Reth, one of the IPCA’s staff faeries, is given. However, since Paranormalcy is the first book in a trilogy, I feel sure that the details of the prophecy and both Evie and Reth’s role in it will be fully fleshed out in the later books.

Ultimately, Paranormalcy succeeds in its utter originality and will appeal to fans of Meg Cabot and Maureen Johnson’s hip, pop-culturally aware voices, along with those who enjoy Lisa McMann’s Wake series and Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely.

Copy borrowed from fellow blogger Kara at Not Just for Kids.