Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer isn't set in revolutionary-era France, if you were wondering. Instead, it opens in present-day France, with the mysterious murder of an up-and-coming supermodel. The manner in which she was killed? Beheading.
She's not our protagonist, though. No, that would be Colette Iselin, a high schooler from Ohio who's about to embark on a class trip to France with her two best friends, Hannah and Pilar. Colette's hoping this trip will be a nice distraction from her less-than-perfect home life - she, her mother, and her brother share a tiny apartment now that her dad has left them, and they can barely afford her fancy private school's tuition, not that she'd tell her rich-girl friends. As she's packing, Colette finds an old medallion with an interesting engraving in with some family heirlooms and decides to take it along for the trip, thinking it'll be a nice touch for an outfit she's planning.
They arrive in France to some good news and some bad. Good news: their tour guide, Jules, is smokin' hot, if a little nerdy for Hannah's snobby taste. Bad news: there have been two unsolved murders this week, and it's getting everyone a little on edge.
On the day trip to Versailles, Colette feels drawn to some off-limits places in the palace, where she notices the same symbol as the one on her medallion incorporated into the wallpaper. One of her classmates also notices the symbol on an old building back in the city proper. Colette starts doing some digging, and learns that her family belonged to an organization called the Order of the Key back in Marie Antoinette's time, and that her ancestor was actually Marie's best friend. Armand, another descendant of the Order, tells Colette that she should help him and his family on their quest to reinherit their old titles, which is an intriguing prospect to her.
Less intriguing? The fact that all the people who have been murdered are also descendants of the Order, and the most likely murderer is actually Marie Antoinette's vengeful ghost. Marie has it out particularly for Colette, too, since her ancestor's betrayal hurt Marie the worst. Will Colette be able to stop Marie before she hurts one of Colette's friends? More importantly, will Colette ever be able to stand up for herself?
As formulaic as part of this novel is, it's still an enjoyable read. Colette's storyline with her friends is predictable - girl is friends with snooty rich girls, girl realizes she has no true friends, girl dumps popular friends for real ones - but even then, she's still likeable. Since Colette's desire to remain friends with Hannah and Pilar comes more from genuine naiveity than underhanded schemes, it's hard to hate her for just trying to fit in. Once she realizes that being yourself is the real way to find friends who will care about her, I couldn't help but feel happy for her, even though it's not a revolutionary idea.
The serial killing ghost plot is much more fun than the friends plot, even if it's a little bit gappy - why is Marie's ghost picking now to get her revenge? Regardless, watching Colette and her slowly-growing, ragtag band of true friends put together the pieces and rush to Versailles so she can hopefully save the day is the real meat of the story, and it makes for a great read. Sure, it's not historically accurate, but this isn't a history book. (If it gets people to research more about the French Revolution, though, I wouldn't be disappointed.)
I also appreciate how the love story is actually the C plot of this novel. First and foremost, there's Marie's ghost; second is Colette's self-discovery; and third is her budding romance with Jules. While it does tie into the other two plots, it's not the be-all, end-all of the story, which is pretty uncommon in female-centric YA novels, at least in my experience. While I do love a good romance, as anyone who read my Stephanie Perkins reviews knows, I also love that a romance wasn't just shoved into this book in order to sell more copies. Colette didn't really have the time to worry about a boyfriend, for Pete's sake - she could have gotten murdered at any moment!
Overall, this book is a fun, fluffy read that's thrilling without being terrifying. It's not a set-the-world-on-fire kind of novel, but I could see it making a great sleepover flick. Three and a half stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment