But also because that first one is the one that most struck me, the one that has wormed its way through my heart for nearly twenty years, now. Mostly because if I tried to write about all three books, we’d be here all day. In this review, I’ll basically be sticking to The Darkangel itself, rather than trying to encompass the entire trilogy it began.

I knew it would be pushing my luck a little too hard to ask to go back to the bookstore to look for the sequel. By the time we made it home, I had finished. While he went from store to store, I sat in the front seat of our minivan, broiling in the Florida sun, reading The Darkangel. Reader, I failed in my charged task of accompanying my dad on errands that day. An albino lion lunging at a strangely-translucent jackal. A blonde girl looking like she’s either ready for ravishing, or suffering from severe intestinal distress. A half-naked goth angel with silver eyes, gently caressing a bat (spoiler alert: inside, it’s more ‘snapping bat wings for fun’ instead of ‘gentle caresses’). This book has an inky black spine, and the title is written in the color of blood. But there’s another Pierce shelved right next to her. I head to what would now be considered the YA section looking for whatever Tamora Pierce book I hadn’t gotten to yet, and am sad to see that they don’t have it. My dad wants me to run errands with him, and bribes me with a trip to the bookstore first. I have a number of very vivid memories associated with books, but this is among the clearest: I am thirteen years old. If you’d like to submit your reasons for loving and keeping a particular book for Squee from the Keeper Shelf, please email Sarah! Despite flaws, despite changes in age and perspective, despite the passage of time, we love particular books beyond reason, and the only thing better than re-reading them is telling other people about them. Squee from the Keeper Shelf is a feature wherein we share why we love the books we love, specifically the stories which are permanent residents of our Keeper shelves. Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult

The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce