The Otherworldlies

This new series by Jennifer Anne Kogler gives yet another view of vampires--but one that doesn't involve 'vampires' in the traditional sense.
      All Fern McAllister ever wanted to do was to be normal.  Because her pale skin blisters easily, her stomach is not the most suitable for everyday living, her eyes hurt in direct sunlight, and she is dark-haired and skinny while the rest of her family  is blond with a good build, she is the subject of a lot of torture at school.  But then she learns something incredible:  She isn't human.  She is an Unusual, one of a group of eleven otherworldlies who were born all on the same day.  The Unusual Eleven all have powers beyond most 'normal' otherworldlies comprehension, and Fern finds herself the subject of much desire among people who want to harm and potentially kill her, to one of her fellow Unusual who is trapped with no way to escape.  Navigating seventh grade is hard enough when you're perfectly human, but Fern McAllister is quickly finding out that it's no breeze no matter what species you are.

Okay, so, as I've already said I'm going to major in Grim-Reaper-stuff, but I'm going to minor in Otherworldly-ness.  So . . . I'll be an otherworldly Grim Reaper?
     One of the really good things about this book is that it's set in middle school.  I'm in middle school, and all you ever find is book after book about people in high school.  Vladimir Tod, Billi SanGreal (I'll get to her story next post), Riley Blackthorne, Cassel Sharp, Lexington Bartleby . . .  all the contemporaries are in high school.  And others, Eragon and such, who are of high school age but don't go to high school because they're, like, olden-timey people.  Oh, sure, there are middle school characters in other books, but they're lame. They just don't seem . . . like they could amount to anything.   But Fern McAllister does.  She could probably beat Vladimir Tod up.  She probably would, too, if she needed to.  And that is why I like her.
    Also, you get enough of blood-sucking vampires.  Sure, Suck it Up was cute, but it all amouts to the same thing--vampires who are trying not to suck blood.  Yes, this problem does present itself in the world of the otherworldlies, in the faces of Blouts and Rollens (blood-drinkers and non-blood-drinkers), but it isn't that much of a temptation.  Like, Fern never has some abstract desire to rip into a jugular.  I appluad her, and Jennifer Anne Kogler, on that. 
      The characters are believable and realistically confusing.  The only one we get a real good look at is Fern, but we have enough to look at through her.  As I said before, she is strong in mind despite her weak body, savy and suspicious despite her relatively innocent upbringing, and you find yourself rooting for her.  Sam, her brother, is empathetic and jealous, the perfect mix of emotions, what one would expect to be feeling in a situation like that.  The Lins are the real confusing ones--what are their motives?  They must want something from Fern, or at least, Lindsey wants something from her if her parents don't.
       A lot of questions are left unanswered and unperfect. Like, do Sam and Fern really share the same birthday, March 10?  If the Lins are great Hyperions, and their family has great renoun, then wouldn't only one have the great renoun because the other had to be married to them?  And then, of course, there are the questions that you were meant to ask like, Who are the other Unusuals?  Can the Vampire Alliance really be trusted?  usual what not.
      I just liked this praise-thing found on the back of the book, so I'll put it in.  "Brimming with action and other colorful characters, The Otherworldlies brings you a gusty heroin who must learn to embrace her 'Unsusual' talents.  You've never seen vampires like this before."  Laura Ruby, the author of Bad Apple and The Chaos King, said this, and I agree with her quite throughly. 
       The series includes the titles The Otherworldlies and The Siren's Cry at the moment,or, at least, those are the only ones I've read as of right now.  I will be keeping an eye out for more of her stuff. . .

Her website is:  www.jenniferannekogler.com  It has all of her updates on the latest books, and her old books too.  Duh.