Another Faust Review

Product Description  A devilish debut by a brother-sister team invites us into the world of the elite Marlowe School, where some gifted students are having a hell of a year.

One night, in cities all across Europe, five children vanish — only to appear, years later, at an exclusive New York party with a strange and elegant governess. Rumor and mystery follow the Faust teenagers to the city’s most prestigious high school, where they soar to suspicious heights with the help of their benefactor’s extraordinary “gifts.” But as the students claw their way up — reading minds, erasing scenes, stopping time, stealing power, seducing with artificial beauty — they start to suffer the sideeffects of their own addictions. And as they make further deals with the devil, they uncover secrets more shocking than their most unforgivable sins. At once chilling and wickedly satirical, this contemporary reimagining of the Faustian bargain is a compelling tale of ambition, consequences, and ultimate redemption.

I purchased this book a week or two as I was one of many to host the current writing contest that authors of Another Faust are having, if you are a writer and interested go check it out. Anyway I figured that since I was going to host this contest I should read the book.

I was not sure how I was going to like it or if I could even read it as I do not usually read YA. I am finding that there are some pretty good stories in the YA section.. So it did take me awhile to read it but actually I stayed up last night until 2am to finish it. I have to say it was very good. It was a totally unique take on ‘selling your soul to the devil’ premise.

It is about 5 children from various lifestyles who disappear and  are “adopted” by this beautiful lady who is their governess, Nicola Villeroy. The story really starts when these children are 15 and move to New York. Their goal is to go to the prestigious school Marlowe. Victoria wants to have the highest grade point average her brother Valentin wants to be a great writer.  Christian wants to be a famous and rich athlete. Twins Belle and Bice have very different goals. Belle wants to be beautiful and date the most popular boy in school. Bice on the other hand just wants to read, learn and hide.

Each one of these children go about getting what they want with the “gifts” that they received from Madame Villeroy in different ways. Some can read minds, changes scenes, stealing power and stealing, meaning stealing thoughts. These kids are really creepy and some of the people that they have around them have no clue what they really are because they seem to be bewitched by them . After awhile their wants get the better of them and that is when the story gets good. It tells how each one of them is affected by their gift and how it is eventually changing them in ways that they do not want or like. Although there are two of them who relish how they are and just keep on deceiving those around them.

I had a hard time in spots to try to keep up with what exactly was going on with these kids but it did seem to me that the most evil of all of them was Madame Villeroy not only could you sell your soul to her she would leave you with a coldness where your heart should be and ultimately it was all for her and her greed. Once she could not get anymore of what she wanted from these kids she abandoned them. Some of the children finally realized that what they got for selling their soul was not what they wanted at all.

I liked the book, I would recommend it if you like a good creepy story. It is rated YA but I think that it should be for the older YA who knows and understands what Faust is. For some reason this story reminded me of the first few books of John Saul’s…