Gr 9 Up—Gypsy teen Gwen Frost feels that she is the least powerful student at Mythos Academy in Asheville, NC. She is surrounded by Valkyries, Spartans, Trojans, Ninjas, and Amazons, but her fighting skills are seriously limited and her magical abilities consist of psychometry-the ability to touch an object and know its history. When Gwen finds the most popular girl in her class dead in the library, however, she is determined to use her powers to discover the truth about the murder. Along the way, she gets to know bad boy Logan Quinn and Daphne Cruz, a computer-savvy Valkyrie with a crush on a band geek. She also learns that the mythical forces she scoffed at when she first came to the academy are more real than she could have imagined. While the plot is fairly predictable and the writing never rises to excellence, teens are likely to enjoy this book, which feels like a cross between Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy (Penguin, 2007) and Rick Riordan's "Percy Jackson" series (Hyperion). Gwen's Gypsy heritage appears to have little to do with Romani history or culture, and the rich background of the mythological characters mentioned in the book is never fully explored. Readers searching for books that explore classical mythology in a modern setting may be disappointed, but those looking for a paranormal story with a little mystery, a little action, and a little romance will eagerly embrace this book.—Misti Tidman, Licking County Library, Newark, OH