Another Faust by Daniel and Dina Nayeri

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 - 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 reimagining of the Faustian bargain is a compelling tale of ambition, consequences, and ultimate redemption.

Okay, let's be honest here. I saw Faust at the opera when I was in high school and I absolutely hated it. So why read a book based on the same story? Funny you should ask-- I read it because the next book in this "series" (which I'm actually thinking now that they are all just companion books) is called Another Pan and is a retelling of, Can you guess???, Peter Pan. Really, the only reason I read this was in case it was relevant to the book I actually wanted to read. :)

While this telling of Faust was actually mostly decent, it was so boring. I was intrigued enough to keep reading, but it was definitely a struggle. I was 150 pages into the story before they even started school, and even then, there was so much useless information, and it seemed like the important parts of the story were mostly glazed over. There was one twist at the end that actually surprised me, but then an already-strange story got downright bizzare and ended with a kind of "WTFlip??? moment".

So, am I still going to read Another Pan? You bet. But will I ever read this again? No freaking way.

Happy Reading!