Thursday, April 11, 2013

The Shadowed Onyx by Nicole O'Dell - OPTIONAL


O’Dell, Nicole The Shadowed Onyx, 368 p. Barbour Books, 2012.  $11.  Mature Content: PG-13 (occult and mysticism).  

After her best friend commits suicide, Joy turns her back on her former boyfriend and other friends and desperately seeks a way to contact Melanie beyond the grave.  In doing so, she opens herself up to evil spirits and possession.  In a desperate bid to regain her sense of self, Joy agrees to go to the Diamond Estates, a boarding school for troubled girls that focuses on reaching toward God as a large part of answers to life’s tough questions and trials.  Joy will have to give up a crutch that she sees as strength and open herself to angels and their power in a very physical way in order to be saved.  

This one was harder for me than the previous two Diamond Estates books as it varies from my own religious grounding in very different ways.  Joy literally sees angels and demons as they battle on the metaphysical plain for the possession of human souls.  She even watches as a very real animal tears apart her step-grandmother’s soul as that step-grandmother tries to turn away from the dark.  This is were my knowledge of other Christian teachings and traditions fails me and I personally would have a hard time introducing this into my collection.  

HS – OPTIONAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher

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