Genre: YA/Paranormal
Description:
The second book in Rose’s Bonfire
Academy series, Integration
continues the story of Faustine, Quinn, Cordelia, and many of the other
characters from Initiation as
Faustine completes her next year at the Bonfire
Academy, a boarding school in the Swiss Alps that trains teen paranormals
to use and control their special powers. It’s just like high school, only
worse.
Author:
Globetrotter Imogen Rose is Swedish by birth, went to college in
London (where she received a PhD in immunology), and is now a Jersey girl.
After her eight-year-old daughter insisted she write down her stories, Rose
wrote the first of her Portal Chronicles series and decided to let it out into
the world. The response was so positive that she’s continued with three books
in the series. Plans at least one more, and started two other series. For more,
visit Rose’s website.
Appraisal:
If you’d told me two years ago that I’d be reading books that were not
only young adult, but full of paranormal characters, I’d have called you crazy.
But I got sucked in by reading the first of Imogen Rose’s Portal series, which convinced me that young adult didn’t mean a
grandparent was too old to enjoy it. It snuck in a small dose of the
paranormal, so I was open to giving it a try when she started a series that was
definitely paranormal. Now I’m hooked. Integration
has only set the hook deeper.
The Bonfire
Academy series is a prequel to The
Bonfire Chronicles, which currently has only one book, Faustine. Integration
bridges the time from the end of Initiation
to the start of Faustine. The focus
is largely on Cordelia, although many of the students are returning, including
one in particular who generates much of the book’s conflict. Some new
characters also make their first appearances and shake things up.
I’m always impressed by Rose’s ability to introduce and integrate new
characters in an ongoing series and to craft an engrossing story, which is
aptly demonstrated here. But what struck me as I was reflecting on Integration was that she’s done a first
class job of world building without me realizing it. When I think of a typical
book in the fantasy or science fiction genres, I expect a large part of that
will be describing a world that is much different than anything in real life,
while having enough aspects of the real world for us to be able to relate.
While Rose’s world exists on the same planet we live on and sometimes her
characters visit that world, I realized that what she has done with the Bonfire Academy series is created a
world that is just as foreign to the world I live in as a story taking place on
Planet X. None of the characters are 100% human. Their emotions, reactions, and
powers are, at most, sometimes human-like, but more often not. Maybe the reason
it took me this long to realize this is that their goals aren’t that much
different from those of a human teenager: survive school, have fun, and find
someone to hook up with.
Now I’m left looking forward to the next Imogen Rose book, and
wondering what it will be. Another installment in the Portal series is most
likely. But The Bonfire Chronicles
has only one book thus far and it isn’t clear whether this will be the last of The Bonfire Academy series or not.
Whatever comes next, I hope it won’t be long, or I may have to give in and read
Twilight.
FYI:
Recommend reading Initiation,
the first in the series, prior to reading Integration.
Added for
Reprise Review: Integration
by Imogen Rose was the Winner in the Young Adult category for B&P 2013
Readers' Choice Awards. Original review ran July 10, 2012.
Format/Typo
Issues:
As a beta reader I evaluated based on a pre-publication version and
can’t evaluate the final version in this area.
Rating:
***** Five Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate
word count: 85-90,000 words
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