A review by sungmemoonstruck
Innocent Darkness by Suzanne Lazear

2.0

Noli Braddock is a gardening, auto-repairing rebel who gets sent to reform school after an incident with a flying auto. Then she makes an ill-advised wish and finds herself in the Faerie realm, where a sacrifice is needed every seven years to keep the world alive. The initial idea for this book is quite inspired, and the world Lazear creates, while not fully developed, has interesting potential for expansion. However, this book took a strident and disturbing attitude towards femininity. Noli was portrayed as special and intelligent because she didn't care about her appearance and any girl who was traditionally feminine was naturally insipid and boring. It was a major case of "exceptional girl" writing. In spite of Noli's specialness, though, she often needed to be rescued by the men around her and didn't achieve very much in the course of the book. At least the book was engaging, full of interesting plot developments, and in the end earned two stars.