Radiance

August 16, 2010
Riley, who appeared in ghost form
to her older sister, Ever, in Noël's bestselling Evermore, takes center stage in this middle-grade spinoff, first in a planned series. Having recently crossed over into the afterworld, Riley has reunited with her parents, who were killed in the same accident, but is having trouble adjusting. "I'd do anything to go back home," she admits. When she gets assigned to be a Soul Catcher, persuading dead people to "cross the bridge and move on," she is thrilled to return to Earth in spirit form, even if it means traveling with Bodhi, a "dorky" teenage guide. As she and Bodhi help the deceased cross over (at one point, they are sucked into the grieving soul of a mother wrongly executed for her children's murders), the assignments help her, too. If Riley is bratty—a fact she realizes after viewing video recaps of her brief life ("Are these like—edited—or maybe even, um, you know, Photoshopped, or something?")—her wit, attitude, and maturation should have readers gladly following her into the second installment. Ages 9–12.

March 1, 2011
Gr 5–8—-n the first book (Square Fish, 2010) in a new series by Alyson Noël, the author of "The Immortals" series, 12-year-old Riley has died and crossed the bridge to join her parents and her dog, Buttercup, in the Here and Now—the Afterlife. In her new environment, Riley can manifest whatever she wants by just imagining it, such as living in her old house in her old neighborhood. It's a comfortable existence until she is called before the Council and her life on Earth is reviewed. She is assigned the job of soul-catcher to encourage and guide souls still attached to Earth across the bridge to the Afterlife. Bodhi, a boy Riley describes as a nerdy type, is assigned to be her guide. Together with Buttercup, the trio goes back to the Earth plane to perform her first task: convince a 10-year-old boy known as the Radiant One to cross the bridge to the Here and Now—a task other soul-catchers have failed. They undertake this assignment, followed by another equally dramatic and terrifying one. Narrator Kathleen McInerney does a good job of depicting a wonderfully spunky, funny, curious, sarcastic girl who thinks she knows it all. In a few instances, especially during periods of introspection, Riley sounds a little older than 12. This exciting story includes a great mix of likeable characters, witty dialogue, humor, a developing boy-girl friendship, scary ghosts, danger, and a most satisfying conclusion.—"Mary Oluonye, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH"

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