Friday, July 12, 2013

The Name of the Star (Shades of London #1) by Maureen Johnson

The Name of the Star (Shades of London #1) by Maureen Johnson
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Publish Date:  September 29, 2011
Pages: 372
ISBN#978-0399256601


American teen Aurora (Rory) Deveaux moves to England from Louisiana with her parents.  She attends a boarding school, so she's pretty far from her parents.  It's a definite lifestyle change and Rory struggles to fit in, finding her niche.

There's a killer mimicking Jack the Ripper in London and the city is buzzing with speculation. 

I did feel a bit annoyed by all the explanation of British words and things.  I mean, the HP books and movies pretty well taught us boarding school lingo.  Also, did we really need a menu/appetite update that frequently?

What pulled me into reading the book was the Jack the Ripper angle.  It's one of the most famous murder mysteries in the world, and there's virtually no hope of ever solving it.  The addition of a super secret society that can see and speak to ghosts was a nice twist.

Generally the characters and story were a bit boring.  It isn't a bad book, just boring.  Perhaps the second book will be better.

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