Rocks Fall Everyone Dies

Aspen Quick participates in the long-standing family ritual of preventing a magical, sentient Cliff from falling and destroying a town. Aspen is cocky about his magical abilities, using them casually and cruelly (e.g., trying to steal his best friend's girl). The story's fantasy elements are well structured; the "dude"-heavy dialogue is entertaining; and the characters (some of whom learn their lessons) are can't-look-away wicked.

Aspen Quick and two of his friends have come to small-town upstate New York to stay with Aspen's aunt, Holly, and the Quick family matriarch, Willow. Ostensibly, it's for a quiet summer getaway, but in fact Aspen has come to paricipate in the long-standing Quick family ritual to help protect the magical, sentient Cliff lest it fall and destroy everyone and everything in town: three people from the Quick family's magic-practicing bloodline must be present in order to enact the rituals that keep the Cliff standing. Aspen is proud of -- even cocky about -- his magical abilities. Unlike the rest of his family, he's able to apply his magic precisely, using personal possessions to steal pieces of an individual's personality, health, or physical aspect. He uses this ability casually and cruelly -- stealing away a bouncer's ability to read IDs just so he can get into a bar, for example; even stealing the love his crush has for his best friend so Aspen can make his own move. Add a dead cousin, a runaway mom, and a girl from whom he can't steal, and you get a novel that balances fantasy with realism; overarching themes of morality and "rightness" with one teen's selfish navel-gazing. The fantasy elements are well structured, with magic that follows specific rules; the "dude"-heavy dialogue is quick and entertaining; and the characters (some of whom learn their lessons) are can't-look-away wicked in an all-too-human way. sian gaetano