If you can imagine a world where magic the likes of jabbing jinxes and dream-walking exist or where a police force is made up of warewolves, hell hounds will rip you to shreds, fairies have a horrible addiction to sugar and inanimate objects take on personalities all their own; well, then you will find Arkwell Academy a fun place. I did.Dusty did not come into her Nightmare powers at an early age and was not part of the magical community growing up. Now, she's thrust into being one of the few Nightmares around and must succumb to The Will (magical force) and feed on strangers dreams as it sees fit. It is how she gains magic and also how she, unfortunately, finds out about the murder of another student at Arkewell Academy.If you think Dusty is surprised to see the death of girl she knows in Eli's (a non-magical hot guy Dusty used to go to school with) dream, imagine how he feels waking up to a cute girl sitting on his chest in the middle of the night sucking his dream out of him. Freak me the heck out!Now the magical powers that be are forcing Eli to hang with the freaks who roam the halls of Arkwell and allow Dusty into his head on a regular basis. All in the name of solving a murder. Neither Dusty or Eli are very pleased with the situation.Arkwell is your stereo-typical highschool complete with a gorgeous, yet snobby, biatch and hot, yet rich and spoiled, king of the school boy. Except for all the magical mayhem that take teenage pranks to a whole new level. It was a fun twist on what is really a pretty spooky story. "Is being at the top of the social food chain like a universal birthright or something?" She grimaced. "I think there's a national registry. It's online at eatcrap-dotcom."Dusty is a spunky chick who has been given a rough shake in life. Her mother is mostly absent and when she is around she's, well...a nightmare. Pun intended. Dusty is also forced to watch Eli dream-drool all over her arch enemy. She is mostly shunned at Arkwell for her lack of functioning magical abilities. However, she takes it all in stride - mostly, and works hard to solve the murders so she can try to find a little bit of normalcy in a not at all normal life. I'd been sitting here trying to visualize myself as Veronica Mars, all smart and badass. But in reality, I felt more like Inspector Gadget with my go-go button stuck in neutral.Though I think the darker parts of the story could have been more horrific, the premise and the characters were intriguing and entertaining.I was hooked after just the first handful of pages and the pacing stayed at a nice rate throughout the book. The mystery, creepiness, snide humor and burgeoning relationships were the perfect mix and created a enjoyable read. I'll be anxiously looking for the next book in the Arkewll Academy series.
