Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Jocelyn

Meg Cabot's Avalon High, is not, as it seems at first, your typical high school story. The book starts out with Ellie's summer floating in her pool, at the house where she and her professor parents have moved for the year. Ellie is not exactly thrilled to be starting her junior year at a new high school across the country from her friends on the West Coast, but what can she do? At least she's still in the United States. Her parents' last sabbatical took them to Germany.

Everything seems to be going, if not great, as planned. Then, one day, Ellie and her father go for a run in the nearby park. Normal, right? Yeah, until Ellie sees someone at the bottom of a ravine. Not just any someone-he's sort of cute, too, and they have a weird instant connection. It's like they've known each other before...But that's impossible, right?

It's not long before Ellie starts to see that maybe things at Avalon High aren't exactly as they appear. There are some rather interesting coincidences. Ellie, being the daughter of professors of medieval history, recognizes some of these that others might not. Such as the 'A' in the cute guy from the park, A. William Wagner. That stands for Arthur. Yeah, as in, King Arthur. And he has a scarily violent stepbrother...But King Arthur's brother, Mordred, was a half-brother, not a stepbrother, so Marco couldn't be Mordred reincarnated! Only crazy people, like her history teacher, Mr. Morton, think like that. Right?

This is a funny story that, while still managing to be something teenagers can relate to, is a lot more than that. With a supernatural twist, this book is great. Also great are the references to real-life history and the Order Of The Bear, a group that believes King Arthur will someday rise again to lead the world out of the Dark Ages. I myself had heard this theory before reading the book, which makes it even more believable.

Avalon High is definitely worth the time it takes to read it, and I reccomend it to anyone who loves any sort of teen fiction or fantasy. You won't regret reading it!