Wondrous Strange (Wondrous Strange, #1) in The Mortal Instruments

Jan 09, 2009 Marcy Jo rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Wondrous Strange is one of those gems that I stumbled across completely by accident. I was in the book store looking to grab the second book in the BIFN series and of course I had to spend some time browsing while I was there. The cover of this book (gorgeous yes?) caught my attention, as did the title. Both of them put me in mind of "Wicked Lovely."

It was too much to resist. Without even reading the inside flap, I grabbed the book and headed to the register. This was a fortuitous happening.

I' Wondrous Strange is one of those gems that I stumbled across completely by accident. I was in the book store looking to grab the second book in the BIFN series and of course I had to spend some time browsing while I was there. The cover of this book (gorgeous yes?) caught my attention, as did the title. Both of them put me in mind of "Wicked Lovely."

It was too much to resist. Without even reading the inside flap, I grabbed the book and headed to the register. This was a fortuitous happening.

I'm not going to say too much, as to not give anything away (since you know me well enough by now to know that I will hound you until you read this)but I couldn't get enough of these characters! The story is chock full of fae lore, which is fantastic for those already mildly versed in it (whether through the myths themselves or vicariously through other authors such as Holly Black or Melissa Marr) and explained enough that complete novices in that world will not be lost.

The first half of the story is very whimsical and fun. So many of the little details that I crossed made my lips turn up into that grin that makes my husband shake his head tolerantly at me; the smile of a satisfied and enchanted reader. The last half of it made my head spin with the suddenness of some of the plot points. That sounds like a negative, but it honestly wasn't. The chaos of that part of the story flows with the sudden chaos and confusion of the main characters. It works. Well.

The romance is sweet without being overtly cheesetastic. Parts of the interaction between Kelley and Sonny are hilarious, as he isn't quite accustomed to some modern speech patterns, and they sort of baffle and confuse each other when they first meet (and later as well.) It's a cute and sweet little commentary on communication that I really enjoyed.

The end was satisfying (again with the looking hopefully to the future as opposed to the everyting-is-so-happy-with-rainbows-and-pants-that-never-wrinkle ending) though it left me desperately hoping that a sequel is in the works.

PLEASE LET THERE BE A SEQUEL IN THE WORKS.

All in all, I'm very pleased. Even more so that my copy of the book is a first edition. I have a suspicion this author is going places. ;) ...more

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