Book Review

Evil Librarian by Michelle Knudsen

A-

Genre: Young Adult

Evil Librarian is a fun YA with a charming romantic thread (although I wouldn’t call it a romance novel, strictly speaking).  It’s a great read for Halloween, a holiday which in my mind extends through October and November and runs straight into Christmas, pausing only to filch a couple of pies from Thanksgiving.

Evil Librarian is about a high school student with the rather overly apt name “Cynthia”.  Everyone calls her “Cyn.”  Get it?  See what they did there?  Anyway, Cyn has a huge crush on Ryan, and she’s quite refreshingly and adorably realistic about her crush, resolving to enjoy it even though she doesn’t think it will ever go anywhere.  Here’s what happens when she drops her notebook and Ryan picks it up:

“Yours?” Ryan asks.

I take it mutely.  Manage to nod.  Yes.  Mine.  I love you. Let’s get married and have a million babies together, right after we graduate from Ivy League schools on full scholarship and have fulfilling and exciting careers. 

Seriously, Cyn is the best.  Among other things, she’s a teen who is pretty self-aware and angst-free.  Later in the book she talks about how school has always been a safe, if dull, place for her.  She acknowledges that high school can be hell for some people, but she has a nice group of friends, and loves working tech and stage design in the theater department.  The theater department is working on a production of Sweeney Todd, starring Ryan, and Cyn is trying to design a perfect barber chair for the production.

So anyway, Cyn is living a fairly angst-free life when a new librarian comes to school.  Cyn’s best friend Annie has never had a crush, and she loves to tease Cyn about hers.  Cyn takes this teasing with a good attitude, only pointing out that someday Annie’s turn will come and Cyn will be doing the teasing.  When Annie meets the librarian, she starts acting like she has a crush, much to Cyn’s delight and a little bit of jealousy.  But then Annie starts acting even weirder than your typical high school girl in love.  Pretty soon everyone who comes into contact with the librarian starts acting weird – vacant, almost like zombies but without the brain cravings.  Is it possible that the new librarian is…evil?  And, if so, will Ryan and Cyn have to team up to defeat him and save Annie?  Guess!

This is a good, light read.  I got through it in one blissed out day.  It’s very funny and truly horrifying.  The musical theater stuff is spot on, except that the dress rehearsal goes well, which in my experience is never, ever, ever true.  The great dress rehearsal works thematically and logistically in context of the book, if not realistically.  My favorite aspect of the book, hands down, is that it turns out that demons (and yes, there are demons, plural) love Sweeney Todd and they all vow not to eat any of the cast and crew until after the show.  I want to see a video of an audience of demons at a Sweeney Todd sing along.  Make it happen, YouTube.

I also loved the fact that for Cyn, friends come first.  She determined to save Annie, and she puts this ahead of her budding romance.  The scenes with Cyn and Annie, as well as her other friends, Leticia and Diane, were my favorite scenes in the book, and it’s friendship that gives the book its deeper content.  There’s some great conversations about healthy love vs. abusive love, and when you should honor people’s choices and when you should try to save them.

I also thought that the relationship between Cyn and Ryan developed in a realistic way as they worked together as a team.  Cyn’s feelings go from crush to love as she sees that Ryan is brave, loyal, and smart.  Above all, he and Cyn work very well as a team.  It made me a little sad that ultimately Cyn has to break away from teamwork at times, but although that costs the romance some points it adds to the sense that Cyn can take care of herself and that Cyn’s primary concern is saving her friend, not getting a date.  It also gives Cyn some flaws – she’s not trusting enough and she takes huge risks.  Cyn has an interesting mix of impulsivity, idealism, and common sense.  She’s a fun character to spend time with – not too perfect, and blessedly not whiny or overly self-involved.

This book ends on a nice, satisfying note, but there are hints of a sequel.  If the sequel involves Cyn and Annie (and Ryan, of course) battling evil together, I’m in.  I got a huge kick out of the book, when it wasn’t freaking me out (in the best possible way).  I loved the characters and the idea of an Evil Librarian – sort of an anti-Giles, if you will.  The combination of gleeful evil and mundane evil added to both the humor and the horror. 

The only complaint I have is that this book is written in present tense and I thought it would have worked better in past tense.  I can just picture Cyn with teens of her own, who whine about their teachers.  “Let me tell you about the teachers at MY school,” she’d say!  This works better as a YA humor/horror crossover than as a romance, but the romance aspect was fun and realistic for a couple of teens who may or may not have the happy ending that Cyn dreams of (presumably they won’t have a million babies, for starters).  I recommend it if you want a mildly scary book that is not too upsetting and is a lot of fun.

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Evil Librarian by Michelle Knudsen

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  1. Natalie says:

    This book sounds really fun, but mostly I’m writing to say how much I love the “Add to Goodreads to-read list” button-thingy. I LOVE this, since that is typically my response to a book that sounds good, and now I don’t have to remember what the book title is and type it in, etc. Hooray for the new design!

  2. Celia Marsh says:

    OMG, yes, I love that Add to goodreads option. <3 <3 <3. (not that I used it for this book, as I'm a fraidycat, and don't read scary things. But I could have used it!)

  3. Demi says:

    I third the love of the “add to Goodreads” button, awesome!

  4. sarita says:

    This is the first time I’ve resisted reading the spoilers because I didn’t want to ruin the book. Color me intrigued.

  5. vickyinsb says:

    Thanks for this review! Based on that I purchased it and so far I am loving it. There are not a lot of books that suck me in from the first page, but this was definitely one! It works both as a YA and a PR; the writing is excellent and feels appropriate to the genre. Can’t wait to finish and see where this goes!

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