Need is a fast-paced, dark fantasy thrill-ride

Carrie Jones: a rather ordinary name for someone who writes such an extraordinary novel. In all honesty, I had never heard of Carrie Jones or read any of her other novels, but as I was perusing the shelves of a Barnes & Noble, her newest novel, Need, caught my eye. I read the back. I bought the book. I am glad I did. You see, Need, is the perfect dark urban fantasy/paranormal romance or whatever label you feel the need to give it. In fact, in combines two types of fantastical creatures rarely paired together in fiction or film: pixies, as depicted in books like Wicked Lovely and Tithe,  and werewolves, as captured in the Twilight Saga.  Usually one will find vampires pitted against werewolves or pixies pitted against other types of faeries. However, rare are the books that pit pixies against werewolves. At first, I didn’t know how I felt about it, so rare seemed the combination. However, I have decided that it works, and I love that it works. Why? The characters make it work.

 Zara White, following the tragic death of her father, is sent to live with her grandmother in the desolate winter chill of Maine. Ironically, after the death or her father, Zara thinks life can’t get much worse–that is, until she realizes she is a bargaining piece in a pixie power struggle. Stranger still is the fact that those closest to her, including the mysterious and handsome Nick Colt, are shifters–and quite possibly the only ones who can protect her from the blood thirsty pixies.

Each character in this novel is mysterious and unique, and the chemistry between Zara and Nick is enough to give readers a case of the half-melted sighs. Then action, mystery, and tension rarely lets up throughout the entire novel, and just when you take a sigh of relief, the tension leaves you breathless again. Moreover, the characters undergo significant life-altering changes from beginning to end. For example, Zara, the Amnesty International save-the-world pacifist, is still set to save the world at the end of the novel. However, to protect herself, her family, and her friends, she realizes that circumstances do not often allow pacifism. Sometimes, it takes a bit of small-scale violence to contain violence on a larger scale. What doesn’t change is Zara’s compassion and love for others. She keeps all those great qualities while becoming a stronger person.  Likewise, Nick, the guy who tends to see the world in black and white, nearly loses Zara when he discovers her pixie heritage. However, after witnessing Zara’s bravery, he discovers that the world is not black and white or right or wrong. And Carrie Jones does a great job of highlighting all the gray areas that test our values and morals. 

I highly recommend this book for its unique pairing of mythical creatures, along with its excellent character development. I just visited Carrie Jones’ web site, and I fully intend to read some of her other books, along with the sequel to Need, which will be released in January 2010. I can’t wait to see what will happen next in the lives of Zara, Nick, Gram, and of course, Is and Devyn.