The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell

Title: The Vespertine	Loved it	Graded
Author: Saundra Mitchell
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Elements: Visions
Series: Has a sequel

It’s the summer of 1889, and Amelia van den Broek is new to Baltimore and eager to take in all the pleasures the city has to offer.

But her gaiety is interrupted by disturbing, dreamlike visions she has only at sunset—visions that offer glimpses of the future. Soon, friends and strangers alike call on Amelia to hear her prophecies.

However, a forbidden romance with Nathaniel, an artist, threatens the new life Amelia is building in Baltimore. This enigmatic young man is keeping secrets of his own—still, Amelia finds herself irrepressibly drawn to him.

When one of her darkest visions comes to pass, Amelia’s world is thrown into chaos. And those around her begin to wonder if she’s not the seer of dark portents, but the cause.

Set in the late 1800s, the story follows Amelia van den Broek as she moves to Baltimore to live with her cousin Zora and her family. There, she is sent to school to learn more about being a lady, and meets the mysterious, appearing-out-of-nowhere Nathaniel, who has secrets of his own. (Of course he does. "Mysterious" seems synonymous with "haz secrets".)

Most of THE VESPERTINE focuses on Amelia adapting to her new life and the people around her. Zora is set as Amelia’s other half, coming off as a vibrant daredevil compared to Amelia’s much more demure self, still hiding inside her shell. It's a feat, considering Zora is the one who is born into the life of genteelness. (Is there such a word?) At times, this contrast works splendidly, especially in the latter fourth of the book, as we see a reasonable and scaled down Zora, but other times it irks the heck out of me, simply because her incessant hyperactivity and happiness exhausted me.

One of the reasons why this is so is due to the pacing of the book, which languishes and takes its time in telling the story. It was slow moving, which is how life seems to be compared to the hectic life I live now. While the tone was light, it grew steadily darker, but in small shades. In the face of the exceedingly dark prologue, I was left to wonder when the climax would happen, and I found myself trying to read faster just to find out when it was.

When the payoff came, I wondered if the build up was a bit too long for my tastes, and if it would have the right amount of darkness and enough of a shock factor to propel the story. It wowed me and left me speechless, and only then did I understand the book; that it was meant to be the story of how Amelia came into her powers and the events that will lead her to what happens in the sequel, which I imagine will be much faster paced and darker than this.

The relationship between Amelia and Nathaniel is exciting, when you compare it to Zora and her love interest's relationship. Both were well developed, and while I loved Nathaniel's power and his demonstrations of it, I love the relationship between Zora and her beau. Who would have guessed that Zora would have gone for someone so proper until he is deemed "prissy" by the usually kind Amelia? Nonetheless, they complemented each other well. As for Amelia and Zora, both of them bring out the best in each other, playing off one another's strengths and adapting situations to their favour. One of my favourite scenes is where they are paid in cakes and tea for premonition requests. I could sense a happy montage, with a lilting, gentle melody playing in the background as the girls giggle and run off into the park. #dreamer

The setting of Amelia's premonitions were beautiful, I thought, with golden glows that came only in the sunset. It played off well, that Amelia's powers, while being vast, still had limitations: that it could happen only upon sunlight, and not before or after.

I would have loved to to have read more of Amelia and her brother's relationship, and the events that happened after as that was what drew me to reading this book in the first placed. The short excerpts that we were shown felt a bit lacking, but served its purpose in underlining the dark and somber elements.

I think THE VESPERTINE is a great addition to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's collection, if there are more books to come that will highlight more on the development of Amelia's powers, especially now that we've got the introduction. While the basic hook is one that we've seen before--about a girl who can see the future--the presentation and setting are one that I would love to revisit.