Redemption

September 1, 2012
To vampires, werewolves, zombies, pixies, merpeople, angels, demons and fairies, we can now add gargoyles. Guillaume has been affixed to a Montreal church since the 1940s, paying scant attention to the doings of the humans below, when a girl oozing "essence" is attacked and, astonishingly, awakens Guillaume and his three gargoyle companions, who revert to their original, human forms. Aude, 16, is predictably freaked out by the attack and the strange voices, chanting and drumming she hears in her head, but she shakes it off so she can concentrate on her band, Lucid Pill. Glacially, Launier reveals the gargoyles' back story (created 800 years ago, they are the protectors of a line of female witches, or "essentialists," thought to have died out) and current dilemma (the Iroquois "Prophecy of the Seventh Generation" tells of a time of apocalypse, when "stone monsters"--not the gargoyles, different stone monsters--rampage and other bad stuff happens). The narration alternates between Guillaume's past tense and Aude's present tense, as they agonizingly figure out what is happening (kind of) and realize they love each other. Frustratingly, Aude's rejection of her French heritage (she prefers to be called Odd) goes unexplored, along with numerous other plot threads. The promise of the compelling opening chapter goes unfulfilled, as the debut author struggles with voice (would an 800-year-old French gargoyle really say "you guys" and "anyways"?), sentence structure and storytelling. Skip. (Paranormal romance. 12-16)

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October 1, 2012
Grades 7-12 Stone gargoyles come to life and take front-and-center stage in Launier's uneven YA paranormal debut. Sixteen-year-old Aude (pronounced odd, which she often feels describes her character) loves being in her Montreal band, resignedly accepts living with her flighty mother, and unwittingly brings four gargoyles back to human life. One of the turned gargoyles, Guillaume, has been trapped (along with his family) in stone for the past 70 years, although he appears to be merely 17 in his human form. When Aude brings them back to life, they desperately seek to understand how she did it before their essences fade once more into the hard, cold statues that perch atop Montreal's churches. Strange drumming sounds and tribal chanting begin to haunt Aude as she slowly unravels an ancient Iroquois prophecy foretelling Montreal's downfall. While the plain writing and flat characterizations may turn some readers away, still others may be intrigued enough by the unusual paranormal aspect of gargoyles and the flavorful French Canadian culture to stick around for the second book in the series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)