#BookReview: Cruel Illusions by Margie Fuston

Synopsis: “The perfect sinisterly magical escape…full of longing, desperation, and betrayal.” —Stephanie Garber, New York Times bestselling author of the Caraval trilogy and Once Upon a Broken Heart

Caraval meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this “beguiling” ( Publishers Weekly , starred review) young adult fantasy about a girl who makes a deal with a magical secret society to enter a potentially deadly competition for the chance to avenge her mother’s death.

Ever since a vampire murdered her mother, Ava has been determined to get revenge. This all-encompassing drive has given her the fuel she needed to survive foster home after foster home.

But it’s been ten years since anyone’s seen a vampire, and Ava has lost hope that she’ll ever find one…until she stumbles across a hidden magic show where she witnesses impossible illusions. The magicians may not be the bloodsuckers she’s hunting, but Ava is convinced something supernatural is at play, so she sneaks backstage and catches them in acts they can’t explain.

But they’ve been waiting for her.

The magicians reveal they’re part of an ancient secret society with true magic, and Ava has the same power in her blood that they do. If she joins them, they promise to teach her the skills she needs to hunt vampires and avenge her mother. But there’s a if she wants to keep the power they offer, she needs to prove she’s worthy of it. And to do so, she must put on the performance of her life in a sinister and dangerous competition where illusion and reality blur, and the stakes are deadly.



Goodreads | Amazon

Rating: 2 Stars
My Review: I was so excited to get to this story.  I had both the Fairyloot edition and the regular edition.  IT WAS SO PRETTY!!! However, this one was full of cliches and a ton of info dumping that just did not work at all. There is so much repetition in this book that it could have been 100 pages shorter and the characters were just ugh. I hate to say it but this book was just a hot mess. 

Review

The perfect sinisterly magical escape. Cruel Illusions has everything I love in a paranormal: vampires, macabre magic, and a romance to die for, full of longing, desperation, and betrayal. -- Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Caraval trilogy and ONCE UPON A BROKEN HEART

From School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-When Ava was eight years old, a vampire murdered her mother, leaving Ava and her brother Parker orphaned. Nine years later, Parker has found a permanent home, and Ava sets out on a mission to avenge her mother's death by hunting the vampires that killed her. When she stumbles into a group of magicians in need of another troupe member for an upcoming competition, it seems like the perfect opportunity to achieve her goals. In this genre-defying mash-up world of vampires and stage magic, Ava's own desire to find a family and her deep-rooted hatred of vampires make it difficult for her to know which of her instincts to trust. To make matters worse, she finds herself caught between smoldering Roman and dynamic Xander, both of whom are captivating and likely hiding something. Built on an intriguing premise that combines a contemporary setting with magical and fantastical elements, a slow set-up and methodical worldbuilding pays off for patient readers when the immersive magic tricks and action scenes get started. VERDICT A recklessly brave main character and witty, well-defined secondary characters keep a complex plot afloat.-Allie Stevensα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.  --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

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Posted in: 2 Stars, Edelweiss, Margaret K. McElderry Books, Review, Young Adult