TITLE: Born of Illusion (Born of Illusion, #1)
AUTHOR: Teri Brown
GENRE: YA Historical Fiction/Paranormal
PUBLISHED: 2013, Balzer + Bray; Hardcover, 373 pages
Anna Van Housen yearns for stability — for something more than just the illusion of a stable life. After spending most of her childhood living a nomadic existence, she’s privately thrilled that her mother has secured a potentially permanent gig for them in New York. Marguerite, a self-proclaimed medium, will be performing stage shows and seances to earn their keep, with Anna assisting. But even her mother’s incredible showmanship pales in comparison to Anna’s natural gifts, which begin to haunt her with disturbing visions and premonitions almost as soon as they arrive in the city. Danger seems to wait at every turn, and it’s up to Anna to decipher which threats are real and which are only illusion.
So, this was a case where the synopsis ended up being more exciting than the actual plot. I enjoyed the 1920′s setting (very reminiscent of Libba Bray’s The Diviners, although perhaps less detailed) and couldn’t help being intrigued by Anna’s unorthodox job as an illusionist, but never felt like I got the suspense I was promised. While still a fairly enjoyable read, Born of Illusion fell short of my expectations.
To elaborate on that statement, I have to point out that my notes for this book contain a lot of complaints that nothing is really happening. I mean, it seemed like things were happening, sure. Some seances go wrong, with Anna’s abilities going haywire and making it difficult for her to hide them. She finds herself being chased down alleyways by shadowy figures. She keeps having terrible nightmares of her mother in danger. She becomes embroiled in an exasperating love triangle. These are all things that make you feel like the plot is moving, when really it isn’t. Mostly, Anna suspects that something bad is about to happen and sets about trying to uncover it before it’s too late. It’s less suspenseful and more of an ongoing discourse on Anna’s private suspicions, which she rehashes over and over again in her head, punctuated by brief action here and there that truthfully felt like it was over before it even began. For some reason, the characters are blind to all the myriad clues littered all over the place. If you’re looking for a harrowing mystery, look elsewhere.
It’s made very clear from the beginning that Anna’s mysterious father is supposedly the legendary Harry Houdini, which I think was the point where I started to feel a prickle of irritation. This is probably going to sound weird, but it actually annoys me when real historical figures are incorporated into fictional events. It always comes off as presumptuous to me, not to mention risky, because it’s so hard to get it right. In this case, the whole Houdini connection might have been bearable, even logical, if Anna and every other person in the book didn’t spend all their time mentioning it. A substantial portion of Anna’s internal conflict revolves around the identity of her father; she’s always wondered about him and whether her mother was telling the truth, but at the same time she’s developed an extreme dislike for having her own skills compared to that of Houdini. She doesn’t want her entire identity to hinge around possibly being his illegitimate child, which her mother has used as both a marketing ploy and as a way to rationalize Anna’s talent as a magician. I get it, I do. But EVERYBODY talks about this throughout the story and I was almost as sick of it as Anna, who already spends a lot of time contemplating it in her inner monologue without having it frequently discussed in dialogue as well. Again, I GET IT. I DO. STOP TALKING ABOUT IT NOW. Argh.
Probably the most compelling thing going on here is Anna’s difficult, complicated relationship with her mother, Marguerite Van Housen, who has issues with sharing the spotlight. Anna’s always lived in Marguerite’s shadow, yearning for her approval and secretly harboring fears that one day her mother will leave her behind. She has so much admiration for Marguerite, but also a lot of insecurities because of their relationship. There’s also the fact that Marguerite is a fraud and Anna is the real thing — she can sense the feelings of others and sometimes catches glimpses of the future through visions and prophetic dreams, while her mother’s ‘gifts’ are just a very well-constructed act. They’re both very strong personalities in different ways and share a love for performing, but Anna starts longing for more of the spotlight and Marguerite refuses to be upstaged. The tension between mother and daughter is executed just right, in my opinion.
RATING: 3/5
This was a highly anticipated read for me, and certainly not a terrible one, but not anywhere near what I was expecting. It was definitely the kind of situation where I spent a lot of time tapping my foot impatiently as I waited for everyone in the story to finally catch up and figure out what was going on. I was disappointed to find that Born of Illusion didn’t deliver on the suspense and mystery it promised. That being said, it does an amazing job bringing the glittering 1920′s to life without overwhelming you with intense detail, and Anna’s world of stage lights and sleight of hand is certainly intriguing.