When teenage loner Cassie Gellar moves with her hippie parents to the seaside town of Horn-Horn, she finds herself at odds with the battling cliques at her new school.There’s Eleanore Parker, Principal’s daughter and social butterfly. Then there’s Hayley and the ‘backseater’ misfits.But there’s also Zag, a shackled little boy she finds hiding in the woods. Where is he from, and why does he have a … why does he have a giant woman and a white moose chasing after him?
Cassie finds herself catapulted into a world of magic and danger, one where nothing is ever as it seems and nobody is to be trusted.
Full of intelligent comedy, fantasy and horror, the constantly evolving town of ‘Horn-Horn’ proves that friendship and family can transcend even space and time itself.
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Horn-Horn is a young adult fantasy novel (a bit twisted) with normal teenage angst throughout. The tale begins with Cassie and her family moving from Salem to Horn-Horn. And with every move comes the dreaded “new school angst” and the goal of fitting in with – well – some crowd at the new school!
At first, it seems this is just a tail of teenage angst. Then the fun begins. Or should I say the weird stuff begins? It took a bit of thinking about the story early on to realize and comprehend what was happening – i.e. – the story was morphing from just a teenage angst story to one that included fantasy, magic and just downright strange stuff!
I loved when Cassie decided to tell the cool kid’s (specifically Eleanore Parker – the principal’s daughter) that she wanted to hang out with other kids besides Eleanore and her posse (The Saviours of Tomorrow). The following passage after this revelation was priceless:
“It was as if a rock had fallen from a nearby cliff and landed on a see-saw and then flung a kid into a bike stack and the last bike to fall had landed on a dog’s tail and the dog had been tied to a gazebo and as the dog ran off the gazebo’s support was broken off and the gazebo had fallen down and revealed a man and a woman having intimate relations inside. The Saviours of Tomorrow let their mouths hand open in utter disbelief.”
Quickly this mundane story takes a turn for the “unusual” when Cassie gets attacked by a moose and discovers a young boy (Zag) with a clay head in the forested area. Cassie takes and hides Zag in her house and quickly learns that she is the new “owner” and will receive any wish she asks for. This leads to some interesting moments . Unbeknownst to Cassie – Zag’s previous owner is looking for Zag.
The tug of war between current (Cassie) and previous owner (Ursula) creates many a chuckle worthy moment. In fact, I definitely had a grin on my face when reading this story. At times, I did not want to put the book down. At other times – who in their right mind would believe all that was going on? And let me tell you, this story is anything but boring. Many different storylines are presented throughout the story, which kept my interest. As well – the characters presented in this story were intriguing and some even had some personal growth!
While I usually do not read fantasy/science fiction stories as of late, I am glad I was able to read this one. You may wonder why I have not provided more about the storylines – well that is because I really feel it is best you read this book for yourself. I will wait with baited breath to read any future stories involving the town of Horn-Horn and its “unique” inhabitants.
This is definitely one of the most unique and engaging books I’ve read in a long time! It’s part teenager-moving-to-a-new-place, and part pure fantasy. The two aspects blend together beautifully, and make for a fascinating read.
Main character Cassie is great, very well-written and realistic. Then we switch to her fantasy viewpoint, which is also fabulous. Multiple narrators add to the unique nature of this story. I loved the way the reality and fantasy storyline intertwine, and the end result is truly a tale worth reading if you’re looking for something different.
I’m very much looking forward to the next book in the Horn-Horn series. Read this first one now….because it’s going to end up being one of those crazy-popular things, and you’ll be able to say you discovered it at the beginning!