The Butterfly Stone

I don’t usually read YA fiction, perhaps I should. This was an interesting read and in many ways it reminded me of watching Scooby Doo, it was fast paced and full of compounding conflict and tension. I placed a review on Goodreads and Amazon to show my appreciation for the author’s hard work.

The Magic of the Stones.

The Butterfly Stone – Laurie Bell

Tracey Master is like any other 15-year-old, she worries about her school work, has teenage crushes on boys and a supporting group of friends. She works part-time in the office of her Uncle Donald (Donny), a Private Investigator. The administration is boring, and she craves the excitement of being involved in a real live detective case. The opportunity arises when Miss Tearning hires the services of Uncle Donny to trace a piece of missing jewellery. The recovery of the necklace, the Butterfly Stone pendant seemed an easy task and Miss Tearning’s ex-lover is tricked into handing over the necklace. However, Miss Tearning goes missing and Tracey is left with the item, which attracts an unsavoury group of thieves; the Shadowman and a Red Masked magician.
This all seems like a straight forward criminal investigation, however Tracey and her family, including Uncle Donny, are not Normal – they have magical powers (Mage). They battle with their adversaries who have magical powers and are on an evil quest to own the Stone.
Tracey, her friends and Uncle Donny are drawn deeper into the mystery of the stone and each step towards understanding its powers becomes fraught with dangerous consequences. The seriousness of the situation involves the police and Agents from the M-Force to unravel the case and to stop the Shadowman from his plans.
The search to understand the significance of the necklace leads to Tracey’s ancestral history and links her directly with the power of the stone, the power the Shadowman wants to own. This puts Tracey in mortal danger and her craving for excitement becomes overwhelming full of conflict and insurmountable challenges.
I found this a fast-paced novel, almost a race to uncover the mystery that incrementally adds more intrigue as well as danger for the Mage. The need of having to attend school in between the investigations, I thought added the right mixture of teenage secrecy verses adult concern and control. Later, as the whole complexity of the situation emerges the adults do become threatened by the consequences of Tracey’s actions.
I enjoyed this YA novel and its style of internal quips from Tracey and text messaging between her friends as it captures the inflated confidence of many young teenagers.
For those who enjoy YA novels with a teenage girl as the heroine, I would recommend this as an enjoyable and exciting read.