“The Antidote,” by Shelly Sackier is a young adult fantasy novel that begins with a very interesting flashback: a female magician spots the male magician she is in love with, but he is declaring his love to another woman. She interrupts them and then finds out that a child is to be born. She curses her love with a magical spell and then the book skips ahead to the present day with new characters and no sign of the first ones for quite some time.

The main character, Fee (short for Ophelia), is an apprentice to the castle healer in the kingdom of Fireli. The beginning of the book shows Fee’s early childhood playing with the two princes: Xavi and Rye. Fee shows signs of possessing magic, which is strictly forbidden. A plague hits the kingdom and all children besides Xavi and Fee are moved into quarantine until all signs of the plague are gone. Once the quarantine is over, Xavi is in his early 20s and the quarantined children (now young adults) are returning, including Xavi and Fee’s betrothed. A poisoning occurs and Fee is the only suspect! Lots of dramatic twists and turns, but the plot still seems a bit unfinished.

The story is interesting, but moves slowly at times and the lack of information given about the flashbacks until near the very end is a bit confusing. Not a must-buy for your young adult collection.

Reviewed by Kate Radke, Walker Memorial Library, Westbrook.