Title: Tangled Web

Author: L.W. Tichy

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis:

When fifteen year old foster kid and diagnosed schizophrenic, Ryne, bumps into a strange man only she can see, the carefully constructed pretenses of her life start to crumble, forcing Ryne to choose between the safe, mundane, mortal world that’s labeled her crazy, or the magickal world of nightmares she has spent her life pretending doesn’t exist.

The truth will set you free. Not. At least, not for Arrynna Doe. The only thing the truth will bring Ryne is a straight jacket and a room at the local, state funded institution, again. So she lies- to her doctors, to her foster parents, to her best friend. Because, really, who’s going to believe there is a whole world filled with terrifying magickal creatures only she can see- faeries, witches, vampires, and werewolves, even dragons? That’s right, nobody!
Ryne has her routine mastered- pretend you’re normal, lie to everyone you know, ignore supernatural beings. And the routine works, until the day she acquires stalkers. Faerie stalkers.
As Ryne struggles to keep her days normal, she finds herself questioning the tenets’ of her life. Why can she see things that no one else can and why are these creatures suddenly interested in her? Because maybe there is more to it all than she ever dreamed.
Will she discover the truth? Or is she just as crazy as the doctors have always said? Either way, Ryne is facing a crossroads, and pretty soon she’s going to have to make a choice.

Review:

Tangled Web is a perfect young adult novel.  Not only does it follow a well developed young adult character, but it also introduces this audience to the paranormal/fantasy genres in a mature, but age appropriate way.  I enjoyed this novel now as much as I would have when I was a part of this audience, and that is very important.  Young adult novels should be able to be enjoyed by adults as much as young adults, and this novel didn’t talk down to its audience at all; instead, the audience was an active part of this novel, and that shows great talent in the author.

L.W. Tichy grasped the conflicting emotions of adolescents perfectly in her protagonist, Ryne.  Even though Ryne was dealing with people not believing what she was seeing, this perfectly mirrored the struggles that teens face when trying to come to terms with who and what they want to become.  She was seen as an outcast in this novel, but she was special and her quirks made her interesting.  I am a big fan of the paranormal genre, and this novel incorporated Ryne’s paranormal abilities beautifully.  It was wonderful watching her become a young woman and become more sure of herself.  I also found the message in this novel to be beautiful: don’t pretend to be someone else and just be who you really are.  It was also endearing to see the close relationship that Ryne had with her parents.  The positive view on family was special and not one that I see very often in literature anymore.

Even though the writing was a bit whiny at times, the story was well developed and thought out.  I didn’t see a lot of artistry in Tichy’s writing, but their dry writing style allowed the reader to fill in the blanks and create the world of Tangled Web in their own way.  Tichy clearly understood her characters and let them tell the story themselves.  Tangled Web is a perfect novel for readers of all ages, but I am positive that it will be a great book for young adults to bond with, because it will make anyone feel that they are not alone.

Scorecard

• Editing = 4/5
• Originality = 5/5
• Artistic Style = 3/5
• Plot Development = 5/5
• Character Development = 5/5

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