Singer’s (Feather Boy
) weighty novel, set in contemporary England, uses fantasy elements to explore issues of religious intolerance, extremism and terrorism. After picking up her sister, Aelfin, from gymnastics, 13-year-old Cassina Dixon stops into her favorite CD store. A suicide bomber detonates an explosive in the store and Cassina and Aelfin are both killed. Cassina is transformed into a “para-spirit”—a sort of disembodied “ball of mist” that can inhabit the minds of human “hosts.” As she comes to terms with her sister’s death (as well as her own), Cassina learns the identity of the bomber, a boy named Akim who belongs to a religion (of Singer’s invention) called “T’Lanni” and survived the blast, because he is an “Aeternal.” Cassina travels inside Akim’s brain and learns that his compatriots are planning another bombing at a busy mall. The ending, in which Cassina, hoping to prevent the bombing from taking place, comes back to life in the mall where her mother is shopping, feels a bit pat. Additionally, Cassina’s philosophical narration, through which she grapples with spiritual uncertainties, can sound older than her 13 years. Singer’s story is compassionate in its approach to a host of topical and difficult issues, but ultimately feels less powerful because of its reliance on an overabundance of supernatural constructs. Ages 12-up. (June)
