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Hallowmere: In the Serpent’s Coils by Tiffany Trent
Mirrorstone Books, 2007
ISBN: 9780786942299
Available: New
Corinne Jameson is an orphan, sent by her guardian to a boarding school for girls, in the post-Civil War era. Not all is as it seems, though. The students are peculiar, the teachers are secretive, and Corinne herself is being seduced by dangerous supernatural forces. As girls from the school begin to disappear, s series of incomplete love letters by a monk entangled with a race of vampiric Fey catch Corinne’s attention, and her fascination draws her further into a web of deception and destruction. Trent does a good job of painting an ominous and disturbing environment for the story, and creates sense of real unease. A flaw is that readers experience the story only from Corinne’s point of view. Unfortunately, Corrine’s thought processes are opaque and her decisions don’t make much sense. Since almost everyone is trying to keep her from finding out what’s going on, the story may leave readers shaking their heads. Still, hints of forbidden love and the strange world of the Fey will appeal to many teen girls, and the abrupt ending will keep Trent’s readers waiting impatiently for the next installment in the Hallowmere series, By Venom’s Sweet Sting. Recommended for public library young adult collections and middle and high school library media centers. Contains: witchcraft, mild kissing, mild violence.