Review Detail

Now heres a different kind of story. Gilly and Sam are two girls going nowhere fast, until one night they meet this really freaky guy who uses a birds entrails to tell them&well, not exactly their fortunes&but what they each want more than anything.

He tells Gilly, in particular, that the Witches Carnival will be traveling nearby in Atlanta and that, if they hurry and drop everything, they can catch them. At first, the girls dont believe him. But, for one reason or another, they go. And what they find will change their lives forever.

Their journey takes them on a seedy but exciting tour of places they never dreamed theyd go, including England (which is hard to get to without a passport&one of the problems they have to solve in order to catch up with the Witches Carnival). While there are moments of triumph, there are also moments of great despair and tragedy. This isnt an *easy* story, but it is a good one. The girls find their dreams&and their nightmares& and they ultimately learn that what you thought you wished for isnt necessarily what you need.

Gilly and Sam are not easy characters to love. They have flaws, lots of them. They also have courage and guts and big dreams. They dip into a bit of every taboo topic in this book: sex, drugs, criminal activity&the list goes on. While this is definitely a fantasy, theres also a heavy dose of gritty realism in there too.

Recommended for older YA readers, aged at least 14 (though Im sure many parents would rather see this as 16 and up, given the graphic nature of much of the novel). This is also a very intense read, so I wouldnt recommend it for anyone looking for anything light.

Ultimately, I really liked this one. It's unique and it really stays with you. I actually read this one a while back and I'm just now getting the review typed up. But even with that time gap, I found I didn't need to refer back to the book much for details. These girls and their story stay with you.