Review: Another Faust - Daniel & Dina Nayeri

Where I got it: Inter-Library Loan
Rating: 3 stars 
Cover Rating: 4 stars (The characters are perfectly portrayed and I do love the moths, but this seems very clique-y. I wouldn't have picked it up over another book if it wasn't for the reviews I've read.)
Genre: Young Adult  
Publication Date: August 25, 2009
Publisher: Candlewick
Page Count:  387 p.

Five kids from different backgrounds are all approached by a woman by the name of Vileroy. She offers most of them special gifts if they will simply come with her and forget about their old lives. Four of the children agree. Victoria, Belle, Valentin and Christian, all agree to be under Vileroy's control. Belle will only come if she can take her sister, Bicé, Vileroy agrees but erase Bicé's mind and fills it with memories of a false childhood. Christian changes his mind so Vileroy gives him false memories also, so that she may keep him. They enroll at the highly prestigious Marlowe school and are instantly gawked and despised by the student body. Kids hate how easy-going they are but are also drawn to them. The Faust children however, are having problems of their own. They aren't sure how deep Vileroy's talons are in them, but some of them know that something isn't quite right.
 
So, I didn't hate this book, but I definitely did not love it either. It was too long and drawn out for my liking. I don't have anything against long books, just long books with no progression. I felt like I was just learning about the characters the whole time but they weren't doing anything. I really liked the flashbacks of Vileroy's life at the beginnings of the chapters, it was interesting to see little glimpses of the other people that she has taken charge of. I liked how all the different kid's gifts were set up. They weren't 100% fun and games there was always a sacrifice, one they often didn't know about until it was too late. Vileroy was sufficiently creepy and demanding, easily making everyone bend to her will. My favorite character was Bicé, even though she was often twitchy and fading into the background. I would love to be able to speak fluently in as many languages as she can. They were many things about this book that I enjoyed but in the long run the sheer length of it was one thing that put me off. If more stuff happened during the course of this novel I would have been able to enjoy it a lot more, but the most action comes packed in the last few chapters, and even then it was just...meh. A lot of other bloggers have really enjoyed this novel though, so maybe it just wasn't a book at all for me.

First Line:
"Victoria didn't have time to play."

Favorite Line:
"In the black of the house, there was no noise, except for the flutter of a few moths and the breathing of sleeping children.