WONDROUS STRANGE
by Lesley Livingston
An overwrought, overwritten first-novel fantasy. Seventeen-year-old Kelley has moved to New York City and gotten a theatrical job with the Avalon Grande. While she is only understudy and gofer for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it takes just a few pages before the actress playing Titania breaks her ankle so Kelley can step in. There’s more magic afoot. Central Park is the place where the land of the Fae and our world intersect, guarded by the changeling Sonny, adopted son of King Auberon. It turns out the Puck in Kelley’s production is the original Robin Goodfellow of Shakespeare’s time, Sonny is not only smitten by Kelley but key in saving this world from being overrun by Faerie and Kelley’s own gifts are not just mortal. Livingston never uses one clichéd adjective when three will do, and never quite captures NYC in this world or in the Other. Lots of telling rather than showing, lots of Shakespeare quotes and pop-culture references, but even the Central Park carousel exploding into the Wild Hunt can’t save this one. (Fantasy. 12 & up)