Wildefire

Gr 9 Up—Sixteen-year-old Ashline Wildefire senses that she is different and knows her sister Eve is a rebellious outcast with a significant personality disorder. When a fight between Ash and a rival results in the girl's death after Eve calls down lightning to strike her, Ash transfers to a boarding school across the country, where her story really gets going. Wildfire evokes a number of books, and yet, Knight has created a novel quite different from the coming-of-age/paranormal-teen reads that have glutted the market recently. Ash is a wry and interesting protagonist and the romance and gritty, violent action scenes are compelling. As Ash learns more about her and her fellow students' supernatural abilities, the numerous subthemes (family obligations, duality, moral ambiguity) and mysteries will leave readers anxiously awaiting the next installment.—Nina Sachs, Walker Memorial Library, Westbrook, ME