Bethany Griffin is the author of Masque of the Red Death. She is a high school English teacher who prides herself on attracting creative misfits to elective classes like Young Adult Literature, Creative Writing, and Speculative Literature. She lives with her family in Kentucky.
"Haunting and beautiful, disturbing and thoughtful, this is a book you'll be thinking about well after the last page is turned." -- Melissa Marr, New York Times Bestselling Author of Wicked Lovely"Luscious, sultry and lingeringly tragic, this story has my heart. I can't stop thinking about this tale of a broken world held together by corsets and clock gears. Araby's voice stays with me even now, making me wary of the air I breathe." -- Lauren Destefano, author of WITHER"Bethany Griffin's Masque of the Red Death is gorgeous, compelling, and achingly romantic." -- Suzanne Young, author of A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL
Gr 9 Up-This grim tale tells of a city beset by plague. Everyone has to wear a protective mask, and corpse collectors come around every morning to dispose of the dead. Araby Worth lives a nihilistic existence centered around partying and taking drugs at the exclusive Debauchery Club, though she is careful never to kiss or sleep with anyone as she has vowed never to experience anything that her dead twin brother, a plague victim, would be unable to experience. This resolution is tested by two young men. Elliot is the nephew of the evil ruler, Prince Prospero (one of the novel's nods to Poe's original story), who is determined to save the city and willing to die trying. The other, Will, is more of a simple sort, trying merely to keep his younger brother and sister alive amid all the death. Both boys find themselves distracted from their goals by Araby and her irresistible beauty. She is not just any girl, however; her father invented the masks that are the only protection against the plague, and whose production is entirely controlled by Prince Prospero. The plot, set off when Araby steals the design plans for the masks from her father's study, is complicated, involving multiple underground rebel movements, the emergence of a second plague, and dark secrets about almost every character. As the novel ends with the plot unresolved and the main characters in danger for their lives, one can only assume there will be a sequel. Recommended where appetites for horrific postapocalyptic futures remain insatiable.-Eliza Langhans, Hatfield Public Library, MA (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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