Heart of the Castle

In Fulleman’s YA follow-up to Faces in the Flames (2018), a group of teens investigates a haunted castle.

Fifteen-year-old Katie (described as “a good person to have as a friend, always there for whoever needed her”) and her friends Cam Lund (the main character of the previous novel), John, and Ruth are spending the summer studying abroad in Eastern Europe. They find themselves in Romania at Bran Castle, which at one point in its history imprisoned the infamous Vlad the Impaler and later housed the country’s king and queen. The teens adventures involve enigmatic state operatives, strange ancient objects, and a tall pale gentleman who bears a strong resemblance to a certain supernatural count. Most of this pleasingly complex plot revolves around the fact that, for years, the preserved heart of Queen Marie of Romania was kept in the castle: “It still sounds kind of gross,” Cam deadpans, “but I guess if you love a place so much….” As the plot accelerates, the teenage heroes find themselves caught between mystical and real-world forces. Fulleman is a spirited writer who carefully pitches his narrative at a teen audience. The straightforward text feels unadorned, and his descriptions are clean and minimalist. Even during dramatic high points, the prose is simple and staccato, as when Katie confronts a mysterious stranger who tries to grab a strange pendant she’s found: “The man made one quick step backwards. His face twisted. He looked down at the pendant and then dropped it as though it was on fire. A burning pain stung his fingers. Loudly, he said, ‘Vrăjitoare!’ ” Apart from Katie, Fulleman’s characters feel largely interchangeable, but each gets some snappy dialogue, and the pace never flags.

A fast-paced and delightfully readable teen adventure set in vampire territory.