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By Emerald Salazar, Special to The Manila
Times
It’s a fairytale alright. But it’s set in
modern day Los Angeles where ghosts, magical babies, witches with
modern-day attitudes, gender-bending alternative lifestyles,
dysfunctional families, teenage angst and punk rock music.
Dangerous Angels, a fantasy novel from Francesca
Lia Block, resonates with today’s young readers through enchanted
characters they relate with.
Many have grown up surrounded by books that
parents and teachers have “force” them to read; this read, on
the other hand, is so good that parents should ban it.
Witty lines and characters fully fleshed out
with real life issues such drug addiction, diseases, depression
enchant, intrigue and haunt you from beginning to end. For example,
Witchbaby, an abandoned child left at a doorstep, grows up to envy
her blond Barbie-doll like sister and fosters a fascination for the
macabre like so many of today’s Goth youths. Other characters
include surfer dudes, punk rockers, Rastafarians, all given three
dimensionality and complexity by Block’s characterization.
The writer melds modern subculture with the
supernatural. It’s a world that is both disturbingly familiar and
yet eerily beguiling. Mystical characters in modern day situations
that today’s youths can identify with populate this postmodern
fairytale.
Fairies and witches don’t exist, but their
problems—as Block reveals—are just as real as ours. Francesca
Lia Block’s Dangerous Angels puts our faith back in dreams, magic
and destiny.
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