Bijou has always known she was different, with abilities
and insights no-one else shared. Her nights were disturbed by weird and surreal
dreams. Many times she thought she was losing her mind and she did her best to develop
ways to cope with the impressions and senses that bombarded her
Her eccentric and dramatic grandmother seemed determined
to shelter her and keep her from the world, but Bijou wishes a normal life and
after a long battle, succeeds in being enrolled in school for the first time.
While it’s overwhelming, it’s not school that derails
Bijou’s life – but the revelations of the people in it. As she increasingly sees
the Others and her dreams become more vivid, more strange and clearer, her own
nature is becoming known to those around her – and the secrets of her past, her
family and her very nature are finally being revealed.
This book began with a slow, but intriguing start. We had
a lot of foreshadowing, a lot of build up for this huge and powerful world and
a slow gradual indication that Bijou was something well and truly special. It
wasn’t a great start – it did drag, but the world setting seemed fascinatingly
broad with a new slant – especially since we had an emphasis on Djinns rather
than the usual stalwarts of western mythology.
Except then we hit the half way mark and the story
knotted itself up, “djinn” was just used as “generic supernatural” in the same
way other authors have used “fae” and then there were the characters.
The characters derailed this book for me. Or rather,
character – because while there are a lot of other cast members we never really
see them be developed, we know some things they’ve done, but no real sense of
who they are as people. I think Bijou was the only realised character in this
large cast.
And I didn’t like her.
She is, like so many Urban Fantasy protagonists, very
very very angst laden. Part of this is from her powers which, like so many many
many Urban Fantasy protagonists, she doesn’t like and just wants to be normal.
Already my angst fatigue cries, but I can filter the angst into background
noise if it is well done, well reasoned and she has some other, redeeming
qualities.
