DAC: Review! Firespell by Chloe Neill

Firespell 
(A Novel of the Dark Elite)
Chloe Neill
Signet 
January 5, 2010
ISBN-10: 0451228863
ISBN-13: 978-0451228864

New Girl. New School. Old Evil. 

A new series about a boarding school filled with something worse than homework. 

Lily's parents have sent her to a fancy boarding school in Chicago filled with the ultra-rich. If that wasn't bad enough, she's hearing and seeing bizarre things on St. Sophie's creepy campus. Her roommate, Scout, keeps her sane, but keeps disappearing at night. When one day Lily finds Scout running from real-life monsters, she learns the hard way that Scout is involved in a splinter group of rebel teens. 

They protect Chicago from demons, vamps, and dark magic users. It's too bad Lily doesn't have powers of her own to help. At least, none that she's discovered yet... 

Firespell is the debut YA novel by Chloe Neill (and as such the book I chose to start my Debut Author Challenge, or DAC 'cause I'm lazy, with!) and a very awesome start it is! The story is told from Lily's point of view and her voice is full of wittiness and dry humor which really made for a good read. She's the new girl at St. Sophia's Boarding School and right off the bat, she makes friends with Scout, the weirdo of the school. I felt that Scout was the best character ever, she was so funny and totally awesome. Lily soon notices that Scout goes off late at night, disappearing for hours on end  and she decides to be super nosy and follow her. 

Well, next thing you know, she's face-to-face with real monsters of the human variety. Apparently, Scout is part of a group of kids who have magic and fight other kids who also have magic called the Reapers 'cause they're evil and they steal other people's energy. 

Then Lily finds herself smack in the middle of this fight, even though she doesn't have any magic.. or so they think! 

Firespell is a super quick read - seriously, only 246 pages - and pretty much full of entertainment and excitement. When Lily and Scout aren't fighting monsters, they're fighting the brat squad and believe me, that takes energy too! I really like the story, from the get-go, Lily's voice draws the reader in and I so can't wait for the next book in this exciting new series!