Fury Review (Spoiler-free!)

Title: Fury
Author: Elizabeth Miles
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: August 30, 2011
Genre: YA, Paranormal
Pages: 352
Source: Publisher

Between cozy traditions and parties with her friends, Emily loves the holidays. And this year’s even better--the guy she’s been into for months is finally noticing her. But Em knows if she starts things with him, there’s no turning back. Because his girlfriend is Em’s best friend.

On the other side of town, Chase is having problems of his own. The stress of his home life is starting to take its toll, and his social life is unraveling. But that’s nothing compared to what’s really haunting him. Chase has done something cruel...something the perfect guy he pretends to be would never do. And it’s only a matter of time before he’s exposed.

In Ascension, mistakes can be deadly. And three girls—three beautiful, mysterious girls—are here to choose who will pay. Em and Chase have been chosen.

Emily's crush is finally spending time with her, and she's ecstatic. The catch? It's her best friend's boyfriend. Chase's love interest is finally showing interest in him, but it appears she has a secret, and it's driving him mad. With teens, rampant hormones, festivities and a group of gorgeous girls who are set to wreak havoc on those committing sins against one another, it's setting up to be one heck of a holiday. Love makes people do crazy things, and winter break in Ascension, Maine is about to get crazier than ever.

Fury is the first book in a planned trilogy loosely based upon the myth of the Greek Furies. Placed in the modern context of a high school dynamic, loaded with teenagers and rampant with hormones, Fury explores the idea of what might happen if, indeed, these mythical Furies were real and how life would continue for a group of teens. Author Elizabeth Miles has created a pulse-pounding adventure alive with detail and imagery sure to captivate teen readers. Fury features a pressure-building approach, leading up to an ultimate climax that will leave you desperate for book two.

I have to premise my review saying that if you're going into reading Fury looking for a true and accurate take on the Furies, allow me to enlighten you. This is what I like to call "mythology-lite," meaning simply that Fury takes liberties that changes much of the actual idea of the Furies, while borrowing the idea of their revenge as the fuel for the fire of the story. That said, let me focus on the characters for a moment. I'll be honest and say I didn't really like any of them, but let me clarify that my saying that I don't believe I was supposed to. The fact that I didn't like them actually made me like the story more because they felt more tangible and their acts seemed more real and reprehensible, if that makes sense. Em and Chase were pretty good characters - fleshed out and flawed, which drove the story towards the whirlwind finish. The Furies, however, were a bit too surface-only for me. I didn't get much anger, or emotion at all from them. Mostly, I just knew they were deceptively gorgeous, and a lot of time was spent on that. I wish I'd known more about them. Also important to note is the pacing of Fury. Not quite slow, but certainly steady, I found that the pace grew a bit tiring for a bit, but as you reach the end of the book, the action is fast, intense and white-knuckle worthy.

All in all, Fury was a pretty good book with a great premise and a pretty decent follow-through. While I think a lot could have been played up and played out, I do look forward to seeing book two (hopefully) exceed book one. I give it a strong 3.5 out of 5, and I'd recommend it to upper YA audiences due to some graphic and foul language, as well as other lurid teenage activities. Those who enjoy paranormal stories and series will also enjoy Fury.

I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.