A compelling story that will leave readers anticipating the sequel.
A girl surviving as a street thief is swept into a power struggle of secrets and dark mages in this fantasy adventure.
Living alone on the island of Karolene ever since the death of her father and the disappearance of her mother, 15-year-old Hitomi does what she can to survive by working and stealing. Though she tries her best to blend in, Hitomi, with her “sand-gold skin” and distinctive eye shape, does not resemble the local islanders, although they are diverse in appearance themselves. More dangerously, she is a Promise—her parents secretly trained her to use magic. As the nefarious Arch Mage Blackflame targets his rivals in Karolene, Hitomi assists the resistance group known as the Shadow League in their efforts against him. The Shadow League attempts to smuggle Lord Degath and his family to safety before Blackflame can arrest the nobleman for political opposition, but the plan fails, and Hitomi and others are captured. Faced with certain death, she must rely on her magic to escape. While the worldbuilding will leave readers wanting more, the action picks up quickly, and each part of Hitomi’s journey brings surprises. In this rewritten version of a previously self-published novel, Khanani weaves a fresh story with a protagonist who is easy to root for.
A compelling story that will leave readers anticipating the sequel. (name pronunciation guide) (Fantasy. 13-16)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9781958051252
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Snowy Wings Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
A glossy repackaging of a jejune tale.
A reissue of the 2016 novel published as Consider.
Alexandra Lucas and her boyfriend, Dominick, are about to start their senior year of high school when 500 vertexes—each one a doorway-shaped “hole into the fabric of the universe”—appear across the world, accompanied by holographic messages communicating news of Earth’s impending doom. The only escape is a one-way trip through the portals to a parallel future Earth. As people leave through the vertexes and the extinction event draws nearer, the world becomes increasingly unfamiliar. A lot has changed in the past several years, including expectations of mental health depictions in young adult literature; Alex’s struggle with anxiety and reliance on Ativan, which she calls her “little white savior” while initially discounting therapy as an intervention, make for a trite after-school special–level treatment of a complex situation; a short stint of effective therapy does finally occur but is so limited in duration that it contributes to the oversimplification of the topic. Alex also has unresolved issues with her Gulf War veteran father (who possibly grapples with PTSD). The slow pace of the plot as it depicts a crumbling society, along with stilted writing and insubstantial secondary characterization, limits the appeal of such a small-scale, personal story. Characters are minimally described and largely racially ambiguous; Alex has golden skin and curly brown hair.
A glossy repackaging of a jejune tale. (Science fiction. 13-16)Pub Date: June 6, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-72826-839-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An entertaining fantasy set in a world that readers will want to revisit.
Brie risks the deadly land of the Fae to save her sister.
Brie doesn’t trust many people other than Jas, her eternally hopeful sister, and Sebastian, mage apprentice and Brie’s secret love (as if she had time for romance). Brie struggles to meet the payments for the magical contracts binding their lives to Madame Vivias, supplementing her cleaning work by stealing from the rich. While the land of Faerie tempts other girls with word of a castle, a lavish ball, and a fae prince seeking a wife, Brie mistrusts the creatures who capitalize on humanity’s greed. When Jas’ contract is sold to the fae, Brie braves the golden Seelie queen’s court, meets the noble Prince Ronan, and travels on to the Unseelie king’s shadow court. In the process she discovers love, historical secrets, atrocities, and her own hidden strength. While many elements regarding the fae and a love triangle will feel familiar to fans of the genre, and the magic could have been more fleshed out, discussions of power, inequity, trust, and hope expand the worldbuilding in refreshing ways. Similarly, consideration of the balance between truth and secrets, lies and stories, is intriguing as it’s applied to characters, relationships, and historical lore. Despite certain predictable reveals, the plot itself, which starts off slowly, picks up and is pleasantly convoluted with multiple satisfying surprises. Major human characters read as White.
An entertaining fantasy set in a world that readers will want to revisit. (Fantasy. 13-16)Pub Date: July 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-358-38657-5
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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