The Marked Girl (Marked Girl Series #1)

by Lindsey Klingele

Overview

Worlds collide in Lindsey Klingele’s young adult novel The Marked Girl, an exciting fantasy tale turned upside down.

Elissa Sussman, author of Stray, calls The Marked Girl “a magical debut with a big heart.”

When Cedric, crowned prince of Caelum, and his fellow royal friends (including his betrothed, Kat) find themselves stranded in modern-day L.A. via a magical portal and an evil traitor named Malquin, all they want to do is get home to Caelum—soon. Then they meet Liv, a filmmaker foster girl who just wants to get out of the system and on with her life. As she and Cedric bond, they’ll discover that she’s more connected to his world than they ever could’ve imagined…and that finding home is no easy task…

The Marked Girl has humor, heart, and harrowing adventures, perfect for fantasy lovers and reluctant fantasy readers alike. The paperback includes a teaser to the sequel, The Broken World.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062380340
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	08/01/2017
Series:	Marked Girl Series , #1
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Lindsey Klingele ended up in Los Angeles via airplane, not portal, coming from the fantastical land of Michigan. She has since worked in the writers’ rooms of television shows such as ABC Family’s The Lying Game and Twisted. The Marked Girl is Lindsey’s first novel. You can visit her online at www.lindseyklingele.com.

Editorial Reviews

A magical debut with a big heart.

Elissa Sussman

03/28/2016
When three royal refugees from a magical realm are stranded in modern-day Los Angeles, courtesy of an uprising back home and a one-way portal, they befriend aspiring filmmaker Liv Phillips, an orphan who may be the key to finding their way back. Liv feels oddly responsible for Prince Cedric and his companions, but as she helps them search for the legendary scrolls that can open a new portal, she too is marked for death by the malevolent “wraths” tracking the prince’s party. In this ambitious yet overcomplicated debut, Klingele turns the typical portal fantasy inside out by bringing her characters to Earth; however, the complex backstory and rapidly expanding cast tend to overwhelm the sense of wonder and excitement she creates. Certain elements, such as the identity of the villain behind Cedric’s troubles, and a potential traitor in their midst, are broadly telegraphed, while the simmering romantic elements fail to light much of a spark. It all leads to an unsurprising cliffhanger that leaves much unfinished. Ages 13–up. Agent: Reiko Davis, Miriam Altshuler Literary Agency. (June)

Publishers Weekly

This debut fantasy begins on Earth, with Liv, a budding filmmaker, directing her friends in a short piece for their Los Angeles high school, when three strangers suddenly appear. Prince Cedric and his companions have come through a portal from Caelum, an alternate world. Their families were captured by “wraths” while the teens fled through a portal to Earth. Their mission is to open another portal, return, and rescue their families. Liv, thinking Cedric’s sword is her film prop, confronts him, but an earthquake covers the strangers’ flight, leaving the ornate sword in Liv’s hands. Three months later, she meets Cedric again at a museum where she plans to donate the sword. He and his companions have been living in tunnels below the museum while seeking the information they need to open another portal. Liv only half believes his story, until she is attacked by a wrath. Afterward they are on the run, and Liv, a foster child, finally learns what the strange marks on her back mean. Instead of a tattoo, they mark her as one of the children born every generation to open the portals to Caelum. The problem is that the Knights of Valere, humans who search out and murder such children to keep Earth from being invaded, are hunting Liv, while the wraths’ leader is also searching for her because he needs a portal for an army to invade Caelum. This entertaining series opener has a cliff-hanger ending that will leave teens waiting impatiently to find out what is in store for this likable cast of characters in an alternate-world fantasy whose brief chapters and many action scenes should appeal to reluctant readers as well as fantasy fans. Reviewer: Bonnie Kunzel; Ages 12 to 18.

VOYA, June 2016 (Vol. 39, No. 2) - Bonnie Kunzel

05/01/2016
Gr 9 Up—Filmmaker Liv is working on a summer project when three mysterious teens dressed in nightgowns and carrying a sword suddenly appear. After her prop sword gets switched with the teens' real one, Liv tries to get rid of it by donating it to a museum, only to spot one of the teens in a museum security shirt. Her interest sparked, she follows and gets pulled into their quest to get home. Prince Cedric; his lethal fiancée, Kat; and his snarky cousin Merek fled through a portal between worlds when the Wraths took over their country, Caelum. The only way to get back is by finding lost scrolls before the Wraths, who are hunting them, do—and unbeknownst to Liv, her life history holds the key. Debut novelist Klingele balances high-stakes action, plot twists, and comedic scenes of the trio learning about modern L.A., while keeping the plot rolling at a fairly quick pace. Liv is a strong main character who uses realistic self-defense when appropriate and has 911 on speed dial when she does something potentially dangerously stupid. Her background as a foster kid influences her reactions, and Klingele shows the various sides of the foster care system. Liv's caseworker, Joe, is one of the few people whom she really trusts, but that doesn't mean she hasn't been in a variety of homes and hasn't run away before. By contrast, the romantic aspects of the book aren't as strong, and the descriptions of Caelum sound like a generic medieval fantasy setting. The ending clearly indicates a sequel, where hopefully these issues will be rectified. VERDICT A solid purchase for libraries where action-packed titles and urban fantasy series are popular.—Rebecca Quinones, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County

School Library Journal

2016-03-16
A teen girl's destiny crosses with that of a prince from another world. In the parallel world Caelum, magic and monsters are real, and physically gifted Guardians—trained to fight the evil wraths—rule and protect. Then, in the middle of the night, crown prince Cedric is woken by wraths who have infiltrated the castle, neutralized the guards, and imprisoned the rest of the royal family. Cedric, together with his betrothed and a friend, only barely escapes through a portal to present-day Los Angeles, where they briefly encounter aspiring filmmaker and foster kid Liv. Two months later, Liv spots Cedric again and is dragged into his wrath-dodging life and quest to find the legendary scrolls that will enable the return to his world (and that story-savvy Liv openly declares "the MacGuffin"). The deeper Liv becomes involved with Cedric, the more she discovers that she might have a connection to the magic between the worlds after all—and the more she puts loved ones at risk. The pacing, punctuated by effective action sequences, keeps pushing forward at a good clip, but the story itself is downright predictable, with character-developing revelations and reversals right on schedule, an anemic star-crossed love triangle, and a sequel hook inevitable from the story premise alone. That said, the world-hopping magic will surely earn some readers' loyalty. Some secondary characters aside, the cast is largely white. Fast, light, and lacking in substance. (Fantasy. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews