Nightlife, Rob Thurman. Peppered with literary references, this urban fantasy holds enough action and family issues to neatly straddle the genre divide and appeal to the YA market. Living in New York City, Cal and his brother have spent the better part of their teen years running from the "Grendels" that created Cal in an Elvish genetic experiment. When one finally shows up, it's not without company. Thurman's Central Park is full of psychics, boggarts, a Puck, and one truly gruesome troll under the Brooklyn Bridge. Questions of identity, possession and family are dealt with adeptly when it seems the Grendels may have succeeded. This should appeal to the 12 and ups who've read Holly Black and need another fix.


Read July 2006