Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Stephanie

The literary sorceress Libba Bray enchanted us into Gemma Doyle's scary-magic world with her brilliant debut novel, A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY. Did she suffer a sophomore slump as so many others have been known to do? Not at all. REBEL ANGELS is quite possibly even more exciting, confusing, mysterious, and alluring than the first.

Two months after the death of Pippa, who chose to eat the berries from the Realms and remain there, Christmas descends upon England and Spence Academy, where Gemma, Felicity, and Ann are still struggling to understand what is up with the Realms and the magic. A suspicious new teacher, Miss McCleethy, arrives in the middle of a stormy night, and Gemma has got a feeling that she's up to no good. She unearths several clues at Spence and in London that seem to point to the fact that Miss McCleethy is Circe, the horrid monster who was a girl who bound herself to a Winterlands creature and is now pure evil.

But London is not just for investigation. Gemma meets the acquaintance of the charming Simon Middleton--a witty, handsome, and otherwise perfect gentleman, the kind she would be enchanted by if she were not in possession of such terrible and dark secrets. Gemma also befriends again Miss Moore, dismissed from Spence Academy after accusations that Gemma and her friends made against her. Together they try to discover the truth about Circe and to bind the magic before others who might mess with it get to it first.

However, no one is who they seem. Is Kartik, the Indian boy of the powerful group of men called the Rakshana tied to her destiny, whom Gemma cannot stop thinking inappropriate thoughts about, with her or against her? Who is really Circe? Can the remnants of the order even be trusted anymore? There seems to be no one Gemma can trust but herself, and that is how she must conquer the Winterlands creatures and contain the magic in the Realms.

REBEL ANGELS reveals more shocking secrets about its characters and more terrifying situations and environments, but it all makes sense in this character-driven novel. The characters are not perfect and they know that, or they must know that. Libba Bray's second novel is an exultant declaration of femininity and the importance--and dangers--of alliances. This is a trilogy that must not be missed.