Romeo Redeemed

September 1, 2012
The world's most famous teenagers suffer through more convoluted twists and trials in this sequel to Juliet Immortal (2011). Having killed Ariel Dragland (who hosted the soul of Juliet Capulet) and Ben Luna to protect them from the evil friar and the Mercenaries of the Apocalypse, Romeo Montague finds himself trapped in a rotting corpse, stripped of his Mercenary powers but still burdened with centuries of sin. Juliet's nurse, an Ambassador of Light, offers a chance for absolution: travel to an alternate reality and turn a still-living Ariel Dragland away from evil by making her feel loved. Romeo again possesses abused and abusive bad boy Dylan Stroud, but he now woos only scarred and scared Ariel Dragland, as Juliet is stranded elsewhere. The love story blooms slowly, molded by artificial deadlines, hyperbolic characterization (Ariel may be evil incarnate) and space-time paradoxes. Jay's reuse of materials from the first book inevitably creates a sense of deja vu, while the alternate-reality gambit occasionally recalls a Choose Your Own Adventure book. Rapid shifts in perspective and Romeo and Ariel's dizzying fluctuations between good and evil render their loyalties and motivations unclear. But Romeo's reformation and Ariel's transformation from tortured outcast to radiant beloved should appeal to some readers. The combination of torrid teen romance with space-time travel doesn't save this Shakespearean spinoff. (Paranormal romance. 14 & up)

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December 1, 2012

Gr 9 Up-In this sequel to Juliet Immortal (Delacorte, 2011), the evil Mercenaries have trapped Romeo in his rotting original body as punishment for attempting to save Juliet. When one of the Ambassadors offers him a chance at redemption, he enters an alternate reality in the body of handsome bad boy Dylan Stroud and has a chance to save Ariel Dragland, Juliet's former host, from a terrible future if he can make her fall in love with him. Romeo gradually wins over the wary Ariel, but, predictably, he finds himself also falling in love with her. He tries to protect her from the Ambassadors and the Mercenaries, but a Mercenary successfully manipulates her into distrusting him, endangering not only their future as a couple, but the future of the whole world as well. Told in alternating narration by Romeo and Ariel, this is an enjoyable reboot in which Romeo becomes a sympathetic hero rather than the contemptible villain of the first book. Readers definitely have to have read Juliet in order to understand what's going on, and it also helps to be familiar with Shakespeare's play. However, the Ambassadors/Mercenaries mythos is still as murky as in the previous book. Purchase where the first novel is popular.-Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ

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