About the Book
Another Faust (Another, #1)
One night, in cities all across Europe, five children vanish-only to appear, years later, at an exclusive New York party with a strange and elegant governess. Rumor and mystery follow the Faust teenagers to the city's most prestigious high school, where they soar to suspicious heights with the help of their benefactor's extraordinary "gifts." But as the students claw their way up-reading minds, erasing scenes, stopping time, stealing power, seducing with artificial beauty-they start to suffer the side-effects of their own addictions. And as they make further deals with the devil, they uncover secrets more shocking than their most unforgivable sins. At once chilling and wickedly satirical, this contemporary re-imagining of the Faustian bargain is a compelling tale of ambition, consequences, and ultimate redemption.
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My Thoughts
Let me start off by saying that I'd never heard of the Faust legend before reading this. Pretty simple idea: mortal, demon, soul, selling of said soul.
The prologue starts off five years before the rest of the book where we're introduced to our main characters who are Victoria from England, Christian from Scotland, twin sisters Belle and Bicé from Italy and Valentin from France who only have age and unhappiness in common. Then one night they all disappear from their beds.
The children reappear five years later in New York with their beautiful governess, Nicola Vileroy who's only outward imperfection is an odd left eye which pretty much scares the hell out of everyone. About a quarter of the book takes place before they're enrolled at Manhattan Marlowe School where the kids wreak havoc using "powers or gifts" that Vileroy has given them...for a price. As we learn very slowly throughout Another Faust and don't know for sure until the last hundred pages (well I didn't at least), Madame Vileroy is a demon! Was I surprised much? Not really since I'd been guessing she was a witch or something since each chapter has a flashback to some of the others our governess has "helped". The woman literally has an EVIL EYE! xD
Overall it wasn't a bad story but I didn't enjoy the characters. Victoria was a bitchy hag, Valentin was a liar and kind of lost his mind/any decency he may have ever possessed at the end, evil Vileroy (I know I'm supposed to hate the bad guy but sometimes I don't) and Belle who was so vain to start off with. I did like the story idea but I might have connected better if it was someone who had sold their soul for family or love...maybe. My biggest problem was that I felt like there wasn't a real ending and I don't do well with maybe they had a happily ever after.
So if you enjoy books about evil governesses and pretty dumb kids who will sell their souls for petty reasons, then you should read Another Faust.
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Another Faust
About the Authors
Daniel Nayeri is a writer and editor in New York. He wrote and produced "The Cult of Sincerity," the first feature film to be world premiered on YouTube. He has had all kinds of jobs around books, including book repairman, literary agent, used bookstore clerk, Official Story-Time Reader Leader, editor, copy-editor, and even carpenter (making bookshelves). He's also a professional pastry chef. He loves Street Fighter 2, hates the word "foodie," and is an award-winning stuntman.
Dina Nayeri graduated from Princeton where she first discovered her passion for fiction. However, being a stubborn know-it-all, she had to spend five years in the business world first. She worked as a consultant at McKinsey in New York City and as a project manager for Saks Fifth Avenue. Dina then received an MBA and an M.Ed. from Harvard, where she was a Zuckerman Fellow, a teaching fellow in economics, a resident advisor, and a speaker on topics in business and marketing. Next she's off to the Iowa Writers Workshop for her MFA. Dina lives in Amsterdam. In her spare time, she loves to cook, travel, read, and collect fancy degrees to decorate her future sarcophagus.
Dina and Daniel were both born in Iran and spent many young adult years in Europe. There they learned several languages between them and tried Frosted Flakes for the first time.
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