Main Characters: Lia & Alice Milthorpe, Sonia, Luisa

Summary:

Sixteen-year-old Lia Milthorpe and her twin sister Alice have just become orphans, and, as Lia discovers, they have also become enemies. The twins are part of an ancient prophecy that has turned generations of sisters against each other. To escape from a dark fate and to remain in the arms of her beloved boyfriend James, Lia must end the prophecy before her sister does. Only then will she understand the mysterious circumstances of her parents’ deaths, the true meaning of the strange mark branded on her wrist, and the lengths to which her sister will go to defeat her.

Anna’s Thoughts:

Oh. My. Goodness. I don’t even know what to say! I had been entranced by this book ever since I heard about it, and I am SO glad I heard about it. I don’t think that life would be complete if I had missed this somehow! There would be a little piece of me missing that I never knew wasn’t there!

First of all, I love the characters! Lia and Alice have such distinct personalities, after the first quarter of the book, if she had left out their names altogether, I’m quite certain I could have figured out who was saying/doing what. However, one of the only things about this story that I didn’t like was, having a younger sister also, I am not so sure I would have given up or turned on my sister so quickly having been on opposite sides of a prophecy or not! Other then that, I absolutely love it!

I’ll fully admit that nothing really happens in the book, as in, there aren’t any huge fight scenes, no one gets kidnapped, they don’t really go anywhere, etc (Not counting Lia’s trips in the Otherworlds). However it doesn’t even matter! The writing, the learning, everything that Lia does to learn about the prophecy and her reactions and thoughts when she does, not to mention the vivid and detailed cluttered way we learn about everything that happens makes up for the non-existent action packed scenes! Other than something that happened at the end being reversed ( which is why this book is lacking 1/2 a star, but can’t tell you what it is, trust me – read it and you’ll know), there is not one way I think this book could have been better!

In short, this book is a shockingly good debut from Michelle Zink, that utterly left me craving the next book (Guardian of the Gate), I cannot get Lia out of my head, what will her decision be? Who will find the keys first? Will Lia change? Will Alice change? The book seems to put them on certain sides, but as Henry says; Only time will tell.

Too bad that time is April of 2010! Uggh!