Book Review: The Girl Who Could See

Review by Madeline Oliver

The Girl Who Could See by Kara Swanson

In The Girl Who Could See, Fern has an “imaginary” friend named Tristan. He is a warrior from another world but only Fern is able to see him. This is because when Fern was little, she was kidnapped and experimented on by scientists. These men placed a chip in the back of her head creating the Rift and connecting Tristan to this frightened child as well as allowing the Rhoon to seep into Tristan’s world. The Rhoon has destroyed Tristan’s world and left him the only survivor but now it’s hungry for Fern’s world too. 

Throughout the story, Fern tries to help the police locate the Rift in their world so they can seal it and keep the Rhoon out, saving the world. But when Fern learns her niece has been recently involved in a car accident, Tristan helps her escape hospital and police custody and hurry to the hospital where Fern’s niece is staying. Upon arriving, however, Fern finds the hospital is being evacuated and hurries to the front desk to ask if her niece, Elinore, is all right. But the hospital has no record of Elinore being there, arriving or leaving. Tristan explains that Elinore must have been taken to the same lab Fern had been taken to when she was little. They were going to experiment on Elinore. The same experiment Fern underwent. But Fern is the only one who has survived it.

Content Warnings: Fern’s past could be triggering considering she was trafficked and experimented on at a young age. While nothing is explicitly described, Fern does explain and recall her traumatic memories of the passageways and doctors in order to find and rescue her niece, Elinore.

Page Count: 204

Age Recommendation: 15-19

Other Works by Kara Swanson: Dust, Shadow, Ignite, and Inferno (Which hasn’t been released yet).