The Catalyst

Dave Jenkinson is Associate Dean of the Faculty of Education at the
University of Manitoba.

Seventeen-year-old orphan Medusa Noire is a supernatural catalyst who is
able to set off various types of negative chain reactions around her
without being affected herself. Medusa’s self-selected surname is most
appropriate; she prefers darkness to light and is given to frequent
bouts of black anger. When her anger “causes” an explosion in a
school science lab, the unscathed Medusa knows it is once again time for
her and her Gypsy foster parents to move on.

At their next stop, British Columbia’s seaside community of Lorelei,
Medusa discovers an unlikely romance while gradually uncovering the
source of her “curse.” At a Valentine’s Day dance, ugly,
black-haired Medusa is computer-matched with handsome, white-haired
Simson Trevellyan as the school’s “Most Unlikely Couple.” Sim sees
past Medusa’s external appearance, and their romantic relationship
grows—but not without difficulties. Medusa’s catalytic power leads
to further “incidents,” including a bully’s death. Medusa also
discovers that Sim “loathed the dark almost as much as [she] loathed
the light.” Sim’s reaction to darkness is pivotal to the book’s
plot, for, when a solar eclipse occurs with Lorelei at its epicentre,
darkness-loving Medusa causes the eclipse to continue. As the week-long
eclipse’s life-threatening darkness spreads over the world, Medusa has
a series of dreams revealing the origins of a seven-generation curse
linking her fate to Sim’s. The book’s “shock” ending is a
grabber!

If junior high fantasy fans can be enticed beyond the book’s
unattractive cover, they will discover an interesting read in The
Catalyst. This is teenager Luiken’s third young-adult novel.