Shusterman's: Dread Locks

The first and probably the best of Neal Shusterman's darkfusion series, Dread Locks marries the story Goldilocks with a familiar mythical tale. This story provides at least one worth while shock, while some of the fun was actually pre-guessing which story Shusterman was going to choose for the supernatural element. The familiar opposites motif (too hot, too cold; too hard, too soft) is repeated playfully throughout the story of main character Parker (baby) Baer told in the first person voice. Of the three books in the series, this one feels the most natural and organic in composition while the other two tale pairings seem a bit overly contrived. A lack of development in some of the secondary characters leads the reader to care not too much about their eventual fate conspicuously detracting from the plot. Although the story revolves around teenagers of privilege, the theme of teenage boredom is explored in detail and probably made accessible to a wider range of readers.

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Shusterman's: Red Rider's Hood

Grandma stockpiles hunting weapons loaded with silver ammunition. A mysterious slayer comes to town on a black Harley. Red Rider infiltrates a gang of teenage troublemakers known as the wolves. The wolves hunt monthly on the full moon, so does Grandma. In this second less engaging book of the darkfusion series, Shusterman combines the fairytale Red Riding Hood and a couple of legendary monster types now traveling in gangs. Shusterman is able to build some suspense in Red's feeling's of envy as he travels among the "Wolves" and is accepted by their leader. The allusions made to the original fairytale all but slap the reader in the face in highly corny delivery. The main character now has to be male because werewolves cannot be female?

Shusterman's: Duckling Ugly

In a highly non-formulaic plot, Neal Shusterman gives a face-lift to an old story. In his darkfusion series, Shusterman combines old tales with myths and legends. Ponce de Leon's fountain of youth merges with Anderson's Ugly Duckling to create a dark tale of appearances and retribution. Devastating beauty and ugly so powerful it shatters mirrors at a glance battle each other to a satisfying end. This quick read with entertaining characters teaches readers that there is a cost to playing the retribution game even when you win.