The Vision

August 1, 2011

This dark, thoughtful sequel to The Mark (2010) eventually subverts practically every paranormal-romance cliché.

Seventeen-year-old Cassie has accepted her ability to see impending death; she is a descendent of the mythological Fates. Seeking guidance on this "gift," she leaves her small-town home and friends to immerse herself in a study of death, working at a funeral home, researching different spiritual traditions and visiting a young woman committed to psychiatric care after seeing the "Angel of Death." She also becomes involved with the supremely arrogant (and dangerously magnetic) Zander, who claims to have the answers about Cassie's purpose and destiny. Cassie is both mature and sensitive, ever conscious of the feelings of others and agonizingly aware of the consequences of her own choices, while retaining all the foibles and yearnings of a realistic teenager. If her school life and the multicultural Chicago setting are given short shrift, and most of the secondary characters remain opaque, that's because so much depth is given to Cassie's interior struggles. While it may frustrate some readers that her ethical quandary never receives a clear solution and so many plot threads remain dangling, others will respect her eventual acceptance of uncertainty.

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December 1, 2011

Gr 8 Up-Cassie Renfield's story continues in this sequel to The Mark (Bloomsbury, 2010). She wants to better understand death, and because she knows that the halos she sees surrounding people mean that they will die sometime that day, she begins working at a morgue. Since her deceased grandmother never spoke about her mother and the mysterious tie the women in her family have to Greek deities, the teen also tries desperately to connect with her roots by seeking out other Greeks. She meets Zander and quickly falls for his charming ways. When she accepts an invitation to dinner at his house, she begins to realize that he may not be what he seems. She learns that he is also a descendant of the Greek gods, and that his purpose is to "carry" people over to death. Now she faces a serious dilemma: Should she tell those who bear the mark and try to save them, even if it means that someone else somewhere will die instead, or should she help Zander find those that are marked so he can complete their demise? At the end, Cassie is closer to making a decision, but there still is room for another book in this series. Nadol has written a compelling psychological thriller with just the right amount of romance and mystery. Cassie is a fully fleshed-out character who, despite her extraordinary ability and goddess ancestry, has real-world questions and problems. Recommend this book to those who enjoyed The Mark, as it does not quite work as a stand-alone, and to those who liked Lisa McMann's Wake (S & S, 2008) and Rachel Ward's Numbers (Scholastic, 2010).-Lauren Newman, Northern Burlington County Regional Middle School, Columbus, NJ

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2011
Grades 9-12 To better understand her talent (seeing a glow around people who only have 24 hours to live), 17-year-old Cassie moves to a new town, gets a job in a funeral home, and pairs up with gorgeous Greek boy Zander, who is also a descendent of the Fates. Zander embraces his role as Death's dispatcher, but Cassie questions whether some victims should in fact be saved. This sequel to The Mark (2010) offers up a second helping of romance and ethical puzzles. Nadol maintains character integrity and tension, and readers will anticipate the next entry in this series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)