Every Other Day (review)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Every Other Day
In Barnes’ fictional world, it’s two hundred years since Darwin discovered the hydra in the Galapagos Islands, and thirty-nine species of preternatural creatures have subsequently been documented and classified. Kali D’Angelo knows she may very well be the fortieth, but she also knows she is at least part human, since she shifts between being a normal, vulnerable sixteen-year-old girl and being the Other, a bloodthirsty creature with extraordinary strength and a burning desire to hunt and kill other preternaturals. An attempt to save a fellow classmate from a chupacabra eventually leads Kali to uncover a vast corporate conspiracy that has shadowy entities breeding monsters and experimenting on teenagers, and the mastermind behind it all, Kali’s long-estranged mother, may be the only person who can tell Kali what she truly is. The pace is lightning quick, with Kali turning from the hunter to the hunted in just a few days, and readers will find themselves gasping at more than a few of the chapters’ cliffhanger endings. There’s a distinct Buffy-like girl-power edge to Kali’s battles, both in her literal fights with dragons and manticores and her more figurative struggles with her identity and notions of good and evil. The fact that her potential romance with another preternatural takes a backseat to her developing friendships with two empowered female friends makes this a particularly refreshing and welcome change from the genre’s typical tropes. Questions remain at the book’s close and a series seems almost certain, which will please ensnared readers; be sure to have this one on hand for fans of Jackson Pearce’s Sisters Red (BCCB 9/10).
