Serafina and the Black Cloak (Robert Beatty)

Serafina and the Black Cloak
The Serafina series, Book 1
Robert Beatty
Disney-Hyperion
Fiction, MG Fantasy/Historical Fiction/Horror
*** (Okay)

DESCRIPTION: Serafina has always been a different sort of girl. With amber-gold eyes that see in the dark as well as the light, able to squeeze into the smallest corner and stalk the stealthiest mouse, she's been the Chief Rat Catcher at Biltmore Estate for years... all without the estate owners, the Vanderbilts, knowing she's even alive. She lives in the boiler room with her mechanic pa in secret, spending her nights prowling the empty house for rodent intruders - until the night she finds a very different sort of invader, a terrifying man in a malevolent black cloak that devours a young girl right before her eyes. She tells her pa, of course, but he doesn't believe her. The next night, when another child disappears, Serafina just knows it's the Man in the Black Cloak. She realizes it's up to her to catch the most dangerous rat she's ever stalked - or die trying.

REVIEW: I feel very torn about my review. Parts of this book - the opulence of the Gilded Age estate, the creepy villain, the overall horror atmosphere - I liked, and other parts I wanted to like... but it kept getting in its own way. Despite the love of her pa, Serafina's a lonely child who never knew her mother, or any friends; contemplation on both subjects kept intruding on scenes, even when she ostensibly had more urgent things to be thinking of. These musings and longings tended to circle aimlessly, repeating themselves in scene after scene, and when she does finally make a friend - Vanderbilt nephew Braeden, who is also different in his own way, and equally uneasy in human company - it only makes the tangents worse. I wouldn't have minded so much if her inner struggles didn't perpetually trample over otherwise tense and atmospheric moments, interrupting the flow for little to no reason. Then, a good chunk of the way through, a new angle is introduced out of the blue, a piece to the puzzle that feels forced in, then is completely dropped until the climax. The mystery of the Man in the Black Cloak seems a little too obvious early on, even if he remains a terrifying villain; in order to keep them guessing, both Serafina and Braeden experience bouts of stupidity unbecoming a protagonist - particularly Serafina, who does something so remarkably stupid about halfway through I almost dropped the book to a Bad rating on the spot. Despite the frequent tangents (and that incredibly boneheaded maneuver - seriously, I could not believe she could be that dumb, though I can't elaborate without risking spoilers), the story manages to build to a creepy, somewhat gory climax... then stumbles along to a wrap-up that doesn't feel natural, too grandiose in some respects while too oblivious to some complications in others.
In the end, I found just enough redeeming qualities in Beatty's imaginative ideas and ability to create atmosphere to justify an Okay rating, though I won't be reading the next volume in this series.

You Might Also Enjoy:
Griffin's Castle (Jenna Nimmo) - My Review
Shadowshaper (Daniel Jose Older) - My Review
The Screaming Staircase (Jonathan Stroud) - My Review