Kogler, Jennifer Anne. The otherworldlies

Kliatt, July, 2008 by Claire Rosser

KOGLER, Jennifer Anne. The otherworldlies. HarperCollins, Eos. 385p. c2008. 978-0-06-073959-1. $16.99. J S

I am a big fan of Kogler's first YA novel Ruby Tuesday, and again here in The Otherworldlies, Kogler's intelligence and imagination are standouts in the YA field. (Kogler is currently attending Stanford Law School, so we can only hope she will find time to continue to write for YAs in the future.) The Otherworldlies is a vampire novel, a complex one, with a plot I cannot summarize quickly. The main character is Fern, a 12-year-old with a twin brother, Sam. Fern and Sam do not resemble one another physically, and in fact Fern doesn't look like anyone else in the family. Oh--she has been adopted. The school janitor, a girl at school, neighbors, all sorts of people have known about Fern's background, but it isn't until Fern's first teleporting experience that Fern understands just how different she is. And, of course, there is a struggle between the good vampires and the bad vampires and each side wants Fern.

As is true with Ruby Tuesday, the young age of the heroine might be misleading because both books demand much of the reader and older teenagers would still be fascinated by Kogler's stories. There isn't the subtle eroticism of such vampire hits as Meyer's trilogy for YAs, which certainly have YA appeal, but Fern's dilemma of identity, her intelligence, her loyalty to her human family, and her remarkable relationship with her twin brother will challenge YA readers of any age. Claire Rosser, KLIATT