Scan barcode
betwixt_the_pages's review
4.0
One night, in cities all across Europe, five children vanish — only to appear, years later, at an exclusive New York party with a strange and elegant governess. Rumor and mystery follow the Faust teenagers to the city’s most prestigious high school, where they soar to suspicious heights with the help of their benefactor’s extraordinary "gifts." But as the students claw their way up — reading minds, erasing scenes, stopping time, stealing power, seducing with artificial beauty — they start to suffer the sideeffects of their own addictions. And as they make further deals with the devil, they uncover secrets more shocking than their most unforgivable sins. At once chilling and wickedly satirical, this contemporary reimagining of the Faustian bargain is a compelling tale of ambition, consequences, and ultimate redemption.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Quick Reasons: retelling; quirky, imaginative world and characters; lots of action and suspense; some unforeseen plot twists; a good amount of giggle-worthy references and scenes; general high school drama
I read Dr. Faustus in college, and when I read the back of this novel and realized it was a sort-of-retelling of the same story as Faust and Mephistopheles, I knew I needed to read it; you don't see many retellings of that particular story, after all (at least, I don't think you do) and this one seemed especially intriguing.
The world building, while lacking in a few different distinct departments (for instance, I didn't really get a true sense of the setting, or how the magic came about—apart from the fact that Mephistopheles, as a minion of the devil, has the ability to take and receive “gifts” on a whim), the characters are thoroughly explored, the story is well-researched, and the modern day setting brings a subtle sense of paranormal WRONG that just feels so, so right.
There are characters you will love immediately, characters you won't be certain of until much later on, and characters you will love at first...and find you loathe at the end. The writing, while simplistic, has some GORGEOUS moments nonetheless—profound and wisened quotes that I will be thinking about for a long time to come.
And for being a brother/sister collaboration, this story is pretty seamless—I couldn't for certain tell you where one sibling ended and the other picked up at any given moment, for instance. It's as if they mind-melded...and found a balance between the both of their styles. An intriguing—and difficult!--feat to accomplish, for sure.
While this isn't my favorite retelling (I've read others this year a bit less confusing overall, a bit more intriguing), I enjoyed the read immensely, and found myself caught off-guard at several of the biggest plot twists. A definite must-read for lovers of Faust, Dr. Faustus, and Mephistopheles stories; this book will make you reconsider what it means to “sell your soul”...because it's something you do every day. Always.
thepiqht's review
3.0
I am forever apologies, but do you speak of moving picture show?No, the book is not written like that (thank god), but it's just a little quote that made me fall completely and irrevocably in love with Bicé. Which is kind of odd since the whole book is meant to be about the ugliness of human nature, more on that in the third part of my review. On the whole review topic, how the hell does this have such negative reviews? Like yeah it has it's flaws but it wasn't that bad.
Things that Made Me Smile!
✓ The Sheer Wrongness
It's no secret that I adore antagonists, villains and just generally dreadful people; and so this book was right up my alley. The way these kids manipulated and tormented others around them, while getting manipulated and tormented themselves by their governess, made for a conflicted mindset. Do I feel sorry for them or not?
✓ The Powers
Some of the powers were so originally new? Like alright, reading people's minds and being beautiful is kind of cliché but the whole rewinding time thing? That was pretty damn cool, it wasn't even the power it was just how it was shown and not told. There were lovely little scenes that showed Valentin being utterly terrible to everyone around him only to fix it instantly without lifting a finger. Although, there was also a scene where he kind of helped out an 'uncool' person? That was kind of cute even though he didn't do it for the right reasons.
✓ Christian's Struggles
Okay, that looks weird when I type it like that. What I mean to say, is that I love how they humanise Christian with his interactions with buddy and his desperation to write. Yeah, I guess it wasn't extremely faustian but it made him more realistic than Belle (but also, she barely got any time outside of Thomas. Like ??? Is she not a character in her own right.)
Things that Made Me Frown(?)
✖︎ The Happy Ending
The book that this was based on was all about the ugly side of human nature, a side that isn't hard to find when you enter high school. Apparently this high school was an exception. Honestly, the characters in this could have been so much more grotesque than they actually were (I know this is kind of contradicting my first point, what I'm saying is that though it was nice – it didn't really follow the theme of the original. AKA the thing that it's liTERAlly named after).
elliotalderson's review against another edition
2.0
Unfortunately, overall the book was disappointing. Sometimes I found it difficult to follow all the different storylines of each character. Each character had their own ''gift'' from Madame Vileroy and sometimes it was hard for me to grasp what each character was doing. I had the most trouble following Christian's gift and his storyline. Valentin's gift was hard for me to follow but in the end it was explained better. It took me awhile to get into it. And by awhile I mean probably about 3/4 of the book. Once I hit Bice's parts, I wanted to read more. She was probably my favorite character and she didn't have enough of a storyline throughout the book until the end, in my opinion. The ending was somewhat disappointing. Things started to hit a climax and then all of a sudden it was over. I would have liked something more, more of an ending for the characters.
I was impressed with how the Nayeri's wrote the book. Everything was detailed. The book had a lot of mystery and suspense and it made me think, which I liked. I didn't know what was going to happen so it kept things suspenseful.
If you're looking for something light and fun, this book probably isn't for you. If you're looking to branch out from the usual fluffy romance, check it out.
kristid's review against another edition
2.0
I enjoyed the overall story, the manipulations, the deceit, the jealousy, makes you feel all warm in fuzzy inside to know what humans are capable of. But despite my intrigue with overall premise, at times I found the story to be tedious and sporadic. Parts of the story felt incomplete, while others were beautifully detailed.
And the ending for me, was completely anticlimactic. I found that I had a lot more questions than answers. Who really was Madame Vileroy and what was the point?
However, I did enjoyed the power of redemption that some of the characters ultimately achieved.
lmthompson's review against another edition
5.0
theballadofgrace's review against another edition
3.0
Five children go missing one night and find themselves with extraordinary gifts such as beauty, mind-reading, or time-travel. Each with a different story and background.
I kind of wish that there were less characters in this book because some of them seemed to lag the story, but then again some of those characters did serve a great purpose as either the hero or antagonist. My only other problem was that the climax of the story was near the end, and during that scene there's hardly any action. The action builds up and then... Poof! Gone. I did like the ending very much even though it wasn't an ending in which we know exactly what happens, but one that tells you what happens and yet leaves you wondering what goes on next leaving your imagination and creativity to figure it out.
tiffym's review
3.0
jacquelinec's review against another edition
3.0
While the secondary characters are somewhat lacking in characterization, they aren't very essential to the story. The five central teenagers are all well-drawn and their combined evilness, depravity, loneliness, and sorrow is all but palpable. Part of what kept me from giving this story a solid B though, was the fact that I didn't find any of these teens sympathetic enough. Even with the ones that we're obviously meant to root for in the end, it was a case of too-little, too-late. Another reason for the "B-/C+" - Their ring-leader from hell, Madame Vileroy, is only alright as far as villains go. Sure, she's as bad as can be, but she also falls short of being truly fearsome. The best villains usually draw from some sort of pain or failure to propel their evil plans and Vileroy, being a bit two-dimensional, could not manage this and seemed all the more unreal because of that. Ultimately, this lack in Vileroy made the climax and conclusion feel unsatisfying.
Although I was expecting a pretty creepy tale, Another Faust happened to be even more creepy than I expected. The subplots are all disturbing in the best of ways and, despite the fact that the story meanders a bit midway through and takes a little too long to get to the action, they come together rather well...
...To continue reading this review, visit my blog, The Eclectic Book Lover.