Enchanted Ivy

After reading and falling in love with Sarah Beth Durst’s Ice, I had some pretty big expectations for Enchanted Ivy. But fortunately, the book surpassed soared high above every single one of them. Like Ice, it’s a gorgeously crafted story that takes something mundane like college and turns it into a fast-paced adventure.

What I really loved is how the plot takes dramatic shifts; Lily begins the book by accepting a challenge to find a ‘key’, and in exchange, she’ll receive an automatic acceptance into Princeton. But as she unravels clues and meets interesting enemies and allies, like Tye, the strange but cute boy with tiger striped hair, her aim changes and the story takes us to a completely new plot.

One thing that I love about show more Sarah Beth Durst is her ability to create these compelling creatures for characters. Even the evil enemies are ones that you want to know more about. I was happy to see that Enchanted Ivy didn’t stray from the strange either. Good gargoyles, bad gargoyles (that she based off of the real gargoyles at Princeton! How cool is that?) dryads, shape-shifters and fairies? Further proof of just how much of an epic fantasy this book was.

Overall, Enchanted Ivy was, well .. enchanting. The story puts on a new twist to the hardships of applying to colleges while pulling you on an adventure through mythical creatures, alternate universes that will put your imagination to shame, cute knights and shape-shifting boys. Sarah Beth Durst is one of my new favorite fantasy authors and I can’t wait for another adventure from her! show less

Lily Carter, Princeton legacy, visits the campus with her grandfather and sick mother and falls in love with it. A secret society that her grandfather belongs to offers her guaranteed acceptance—but only if she passes the test and finds the Key. What’s the Key? Accompanied by a cute guy named Tye, who may know more than he’s letting on to, Lily traverses the campus on her quest…and makes some shocking revelations about Princeton as well as her heritage.

For there are actually two Princetons, and the university’s famous main gate is the doorway between the Princeton we all know and the other, magical Princeton. And Lily’s family is somehow involved in the heart of a conflict between the inhabitants of the two worlds, and they show more might stop at nothing to possess her.

What an amazing idea for a story! Who doesn’t love tales about alternate worlds? I know I do. However, ENCHANTED IVY cut some storytelling corners that unfortunately made it hard for me to invest in the story as fully as I wanted to.

As far as the premise goes, it’s extensive, but Sarah Beth Durst does an admirable job of condensing it to a magnitude appropriate for a YA novel. She creatively reimagines Princeton’s campus as one containing magical secrets in the most obvious of places. For anyone who’s acquainted with the university’s campus, as I am, or anyone who has felt the awe-inspiring austerity of an old and regal college campus, it’s not much of a stretch to imagine the gargoyles as “hibernating” magical professors and gateways existing everywhere.

Oh, how I wish this book had gone on for another 200 or so pages! And not exactly because I didn’t want it to end, but because I think that had the book been longer, elements of the story could have been explored more thoroughly, and the book wouldn’t have given me a harried, rushed feeling as I read it. There is just so much packed into 320 pages that I don’t think many elements were allowed breathing room to grow into fully realized beings. Many of the characters seemed like flat projections of people, from the villain of the story to the boys who help Lily on her quest. In particular, when Tye proclaims to Lily within hours of them meeting each other that, due to their similarities, which I won’t divulge here because of spoilers, they are obviously soulmates, I wanted to howl, “Noooooo! How could you resort to such a paranormal romance cliché?!?!” At that point, I still felt so lost with the story that I couldn’t fully invest in Tye as a love interest yet. Likewise with the “purposes” of many other characters.

That was the danger of having the pacing of this book be all snap-snap-snap, one dramatic event/revelation after the other after the other. No sooner was one crucial key to the plot revealed, and I was still digesting it, when another piled on top, and so on. The rushed pacing unfortunately made this book read almost like a parody of its intent: I knew this book could’ve been extremely awe-inducing and breath-stealing in the best way, but I couldn’t help but feel like it attempted to do too much in too little space—oh, here’s a big bad villain! Here’s a love triangle! Here’s a heretofore unknown magical heritage! And then here’s the big bad villain’s deserved horrible ending!—that little was allowed to reach its potential.

Still, ENCHANTED IVY had the power to surprise and delight me with its twists, turns, and revelations. I particularly loved Lily’s bittersweet relationship with her fragile mother, a woman whose sanity is questionable but all the more endearing as a result of her tremulous hold on reality. If you’re the kind of reader who is often ensnared by an incredible premise, action, and a magical gothic-like setting, do give this book a try. show less

When Lily accompanies her grandfather to his yearly reunion at Princeton the most she thought she'd see were the school grounds - maybe even take a tour of the school she hopes to one day attend. Little did she know that she would instead be participating in a top-secret Legacy Test that if she succeeds in will grant her an early scholarship to Princeton. She finds herself trying to unravel secrets that will help her on her quest to find the Ivy Key - with the help of a mysterious boy with hair that reminds her of a tiger and his instructions that the gargoyles know more than she thinks.... she'll discover a world or rather two worlds - her ordinary Princeton and a parallel Princeton that is full of all sorts of fantastical creatures.

I show more loved the premise of this story. Imagine getting the chance to visit your dream university only to find out that it's so much more than you thought it would be. I loved the descriptions of the university, the grounds... I especially loved the descriptions of the library, le sigh. Ms. Durst expertly creates a magical world filled with all sorts of magical creatures (my favorites being the talking gargoyles). I loved the mystery of the Ivy Key and Lily's quest to find it. While she's on her quest to find the key we are taken all around campus. We also meet Tye (the boy with the black and orange hair) who helps her along the way.

I really liked Lily -she was brave and smart, funny and witty. I especially enjoyed her friendship with Tye and how it eventually sparks a romance. I thought it was very nicely done, well-paced and credible (well of course, if you don't count flying on a dragon as a first date.) Ms. Durst's writing is pleasant and just brings such a light feeling to her story. I love books that although they are full of danger and mystery - still have you feeling happy. This is that type of book.

All in all, I think Enchanted Ivy is a wonderful fantasy that you will find yourself completed captivated with after a few pages. There was magic and adventure, mystery and danger... and of course, there was romance. I really enjoyed it and for fans of young adult fantasy - this is one you won't want to miss out on. show less

I read Into the Wild, another of Sarah Beth Durst's books (not to be confused with Jon Krakauer's ode to being really stupid--aka cool--when hiking), in 2008. I wasn't super impressed (I didn't even read the sequel), but I still wanted to read this one and her other book, Ice. I love fantasy and fairy tales, which is her niche. Unfortunately, she still has yet to really engage me. This one was definitely preferable to Into the Wild, mostly because the protagonist is a bit older and easier for me to relate to. Also, the title is a pun, which you have to love. Enchanted Ivy, both because Princeton is an ivy league school with magic things running around and because there are some vines that are enchanted. Awesome.

There were three things show more that really kept me from connecting with Lily and the book:

1) Lily is too damn trusting. She never really suspects anyone until they openly admit that they are terrible people. She has a tendency to expect others to save her, which gets really frustrating. That's part of the growing she does in the progress of the novel, but it happens in such a way that I do not feel thrilled for her. Instead, I feel even more judgmental.

2) She manages to be a big flirt while claiming to be complete out of the league of the only two young males in the book. Cry moar. I mean, really.

3) Every time one of the characters touches her, she feels tingles. And it does get mentioned every single time. Except for that time where she sat behind him on a ride with her arms around him for a matter of minutes, so good consistency there. She attributes this tingly feeling not with her romantic feelings (certainly an improvement), but with the magic she senses within him. Well, that's great. Except that she has never noticed magic anywhere else through this same tingle, even in the other magical creatures she meets. What does this mean? Is Lily stupid or is all the powerful tingle of love?

Final verdict: just okay. A bit too cheesy and obvious to be particularly good, but interesting enough in spite of that to be readable. show less

The Scoop:

Lily Carter doesn't know there are two Princetons (as in Princeton University). Two Princetons that exist parallel to each other--one mystical, one normal. All it takes is one step through the FitzRandolph Gateway to get from one Princeton to the other. As long as you have "the key."

Lily and her mother travel with Lily's grandfather to his 50th class reunion. Upon her arrival she is given the option for early admission that is guaranteed without having to submit grades or SAT scores. All she must do is find the Ivy Key. First she must figure out what the Ivy Key is. With the help of the mysterious Tye and his tiger-striped hair and the blushing and beautiful Jake, Lily uncovers the meaning of the key and also her own magical show more background and the truth behind her father's death.

My Thoughts:

While I thoroughly enjoyed this book I couldn't help but compare the character of Lily and her story to Harry Potter and the HP book series. Like Harry, Lily escaped an attack by a magical creature only to lose her father who was killed saving her life from the Chained Dragon that attacked them. She was left with her mother and grandfather (both much nicer than Harry's aunt, uncle and cousin). Like Harry, instead of Lily and her mother living in the magical world that she was born in they hid out with Muggles . . . uh, humans, until Lily reached a certain age.

I also want to say how satisfying it is to read a stand-alone book that has a full conclusion to the story. I've been reading so many books that are a part of a series lately that I'm feeling a bit of cliffhanger-itis. As well as an overload of background story and non-essential, superfluous information. It was good to get a book where the background information and the action part of the story were woven together instead of taking up almost half of the first book in a series. I enjoyed the pace of the story and how it came to a completion.

That being said I didn't like that it left little time for developing the characters emotional connections. I could already tell that Lily had a strong connection to her mother and grandfather but the two guys--Tye and Jake--didn't get a fair shake in making a connection with Lily before all hell broke loose. They did show their strengths and how their relationship to Lily was beneficial but I didn't feel that swoon aspect (or emotional connection) that makes me want to root for one or the other. The relationships just sort of fell into place without any work or conflict. I think that this whole story took place in just a few days made any emotional connection a little unbelievable and hard to feel. (In her other book, Ice, the story took place on a long adventure and the two characters spent a lot of time together and you felt when and how their connection was growing.) And after a similar magical connection that I just read in Hourglass (I know, I know, that is part of a series but it still gave us somewhat of a conclusion at the end of the book so I'll count it--albeit reluctantly) I was a little disappointed that it was written the way it was. Overall, though, I have to say that it was a really good read and I would recommend it to those that enjoy a well-written, stand alone story about magical universes. The relationship issue that I had was well overshadowed by the exciting story and interesting concept. show less

I didn't cave to the pressure of The Ivy or any of the other gossipy-type books dealing with ivy league schools, but I couldn't resist the fantasy element of Enchanted Ivy. I'm glad as well, because this was an incredibly fun book with a lot of fun information filling its pages.

Sarah Beth Durst went to Princeton and the cover indicates that she spent some time there wondering what the gargoyles would say if they could talk...and so a story woven around the history and architecture of Princeton was born.

Lily has a mother who is fading away mentally and a grandfather who is an alumnus of Princeton. Lily wants more than anything to attend Princeton, but must first finish high school to do so. While there are some strange resolutions to the show more book with regard to the age of Lily, the story itself is fun, fast-paced, filled with magic and lore.

Enchanted Ivy is a satisfying fantasy book and one I'll be recommending to the teenage girls in my life. It's fun to read about college, even more fun to read about the Ivy Leagues and when you toss magic and fantasy into the mix - well, it just can't get better than that. show less

Every college-bound high school student dreams of being accepted into their first-choice college. For Lily Carter, getting into her family's alma mater, Princeton University, is an easier process than she thought it would be. During her grandfather's reunion, she discovers that if she passes the secretive Legacy Test by finding the Ivy Key, she'll not only be enrolled in a secret society on campus, she'll also be guaranteed admission to Princeton. She'll still have to formally submit an application, but it will all be for show. What high school student wouldn't want that guarantee, especially when it's for a prestigious Ivy League school?

As luck would have it, Lily soon discovers that locating the Ivy Key opens the door to a world she show more would have never dreamed of. Sarah Beth Durst's attention to detail really comes alive as she paints a picture of the beautiful campus architecture in a way that makes readers feel like they're actually able to see Princeton in their mind. She pays particular attention to the gargoyles, which inspired her to write the novel in the first place. The gargoyles are the protectors of the university, hailing from a fantasy world with a different Princeton. There is a gateway between our world and theirs located on campus, and if Lily manages to find the Ivy Key, citizens of each area will be able to travel back and forth.

Aided by both a mysterious student with tiger-striped hair and the grandson of the secret society's leader, Lily finds herself trapped in a love triangle as she embarks on her quest. The novel's romantic tilt isn't as eloquent as the one she painted in last year's Ice (review here), nor does it have the same level of depth, but because of this, a younger audience can discover this book. It's interesting to see the way Durst portrays each love interest. You can tell whom you're supposed to root for as a reader because one of the suitors has more depth than the other, who pales in comparison due to lack of fleshing out, one of the book's weaker elements. Even so, the main love interest is extremely likable and full of interesting quirks.

Another perk when it comes to Enchanted Ivy is the way the chosen typography design gets you in the mood for a good fantasy. Debra Sfetsios-Conover set the book in Brioso Pro, which gives the letters an elegant shape, especially the "s," while still being easy on the eyes. I don't know the name for the font used for the novel/chapter titles, but it's *gorgeous.* It suits the book well. The shimmer sheen on the book jacket (something that can be seen easily by the photograph accompanying this entry) gives the novel a nice finish that makes it eye-catching on the shelf.

While Ice is still my favorite of Durst's four novels, Enchanted Ivy is a fine addition to add to the shelf. It's wish fulfillment at its finest, thrown in with a splash of fantasy, romance, and adventure. It's definitely a good book to curl up with on a rainy day! show less