Fury by Elizabeth Miles

First published in 2012 by Simon & Schuster

The trick with paranormal YA is to kind of know what to expect – certainly not true of all titles, but when I pick up something like Fury I’m pretty certain of what I’m going to get and so just have fun with it. That’s why I like reading paranormal YA – it is easy, escapist and fun. It’s what I read when it feels like I have a thousand deadlines and other things to do and I want to spend an enjoyable fifteen minutes break with a cup of tea.

So no, Fury won’t rock the literary world. The characters won’t go down as classic heroes. But it was quick and easy, immersive and written well enough to keep my attention on the story.

You may have heard elsewhere that the characters don’t exactly set the world alight. This is true. I found most of them shallow and annoying. And a little stupid. No, I don’t understand why the Furies chose to target these kids (their crimes aren’t right by any means, but there are certainly worse). But then you have to remember this is a book for teens – glossy and sexy and embedded in high school dramas. The ‘sins’ these teens do have to be relevant to their intended audience. Anyway, no I didn’t care for the characters. A lot of them are just stock-standard. And the Furies are beautiful and mysterious and alluring, but we never really get much about them. But I kind of liked this.

It is quite creepy when they randomly show up, or just flit around at the edges of the character’s eyes. Fury is a little more dangerous and scary than your usual paranormal YA. Miles manages to wring a bit of atmosphere out of the dark nights and snowy, barren town. There is a bit more ‘adult’ content rather than just moony stares and heartfelt declarations of love. Sometimes I found the language, stylistically, a little too dramatic; and there is, especially at the start, a bit of cringey telling and not showing. When this happens it feels awkward and a little juvenile. But apart from this, the writing has a quick, fast pace and is easy to get stuck into.

Fury at least tries something different. It doesn’t have any life-affirming messages but it is a little bit sexy, a little bit trashy, and a little bit fun.