Obsidian Mirror by Catherine Fisher

Obsidian Mirror by Catherine Fisher has a lot of interesting elements, including time travel, vengeful fey, and a creepy old house. Intrigued?

Jake Wilde is in trouble at boarding school again -- and this time, it's bad enough to get him kicked out. Of course, that was Jake's plan all along. This time, instead of being shuttled off to the next school, Jake will be sent to Wintercombe Abbey to confront Oberon Venn, his reclusive guardian and the man Jake is convinced killed his father. Accompanied by one of the teachers from the school, Jake travels to Venn's remote estate, where he finds that Venn is more than just a legendary explorer turned recluse, and there's more to Jake's father's disappearance than Jake could possibly have guessed.

I definitely was pulled into the world of the story, though not all of the elements came together perfectly. It seemed like there were several stories going on -- a dystopian one about a girl traveling back through time to prevent the end of the world, a mystery about Jake's missing father, a tale of a changeling boy trapped among the fey, and a piquant, surreal little love story about a girl and her imaginary friend. It was almost too much, through somehow they all worked together, more or less, by the end of the book. For me, this is bound to be a problematic series -- I want to know what the next book will bring, but I'll never remember all of the characters and events from this book, but I didn't love it so much that I will really relish a reread when the next book comes out. So, I suppose my recommendation is to read this book, but read it when the sequel is also available.

(Reviewed from an advance copy, courtesy of the publisher, via the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.)