February 1, 2011
Gr 9 Up-After offering herself as a sacrifice in order to rid her boyfriend of his werewolf curse, high school senior Grace Divine has absorbed some of his lycanthropic abilities. As she trains with Daniel in an attempt to achieve mastery over her powers, she meets another young man who urges her to embrace the anger that triggers her strength and encourages her to join him in the fight against evil demons and vampires. Push back from Daniel, her family, and a visiting pastor lead her to question the benevolence of her new friend; however, Grace's passion to save her brother-whom she fears has been absorbed into a cohort of evil supernatural creatures-leads her to defy those closest to her. Like A Dark Divine (Egmost USA, 2009), The Lost Saint is a lengthy supernatural novel that, at its core, is a traditional romance. Chapters further divided into sections headed, "Later That Same Day" and "After Lunch" ensure that no detail of Grace's life-including her obsessive ruminations on Daniel and their relationship-goes undescribed, and it is this content that makes the book difficult to read and less satisfying than, for example, Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver (Scholastic, 2009). A religious tone distinguishes this novel from others of its ilk and complicates the discussion of war and retributionZ-supernatural or otherwise. That said, it is not distinguished by its pacing because of its superfluous narrative content.-Amy S. Pattee, Simmons College, Boston
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