The Night Weaver

The children of Shadow Grove are disappearing, and while the adults don’t seem to care, Rachel Cleary, 17, decides she’s going to find them. Helping her is Dougal Mackay, the grandson of Rachel’s endearing neighbor, Mrs. Crenshaw. Then, while coming back from a party, Rachel and Dougal come face to face with the creature that is kidnapping the kids and entrancing the adults. Dougal calls it the Black Annis (the Night Weaver)—a fae that eats children. With the help of Orion, a fae stuck in the human world, Rachel launches an assault on the Annis’s realm. Though there are many familiar YA tropes—a dead parent, a community outsider, a dreamy boy next door—Snyman’s creative adoption of English folklore adds a unique twist, and satisfying frights abound. A few scenes, particularly one in which Rachel is drugged and then forcibly kissed without consent, are unfortunate missteps in an otherwise enjoyable, frenetically paced fantasy, which was a Bram Stoker Award nominee. Ages 14–up[em]. Agent: Gandolfo Helin, Fountain Literary Management. (Oct.) [/em]