A fizzy mix of cool tech and hot action.
A brilliant young inventor gets more than just technical support from a set of fellow geniuses when an army of killer robots threatens their near-future world.
Konstant’s submission of a flying motorcycle prototype to a national science contest launches a breathless storm of massive disasters and scary escapes involving rival megacorporations, construction robots gone rogue, and a veritable cascade of futuristic gadgetry, including an experimental matter replicator with a subtle but ominous flaw. Readers fond of geeky tech talk and driving action that’s high in body count but low on explicit violence will be well pleased. Still, the story’s strongest elements are its personal ones. Konstant makes steady progress from being an angry, isolated loner to being willing to work with others and accept friendship and help; he’s a struggling immigrant from the fictional nation of Duprevnia whose scientist mother was killed by a mutated norovirus. In his debut novel, Aresty offers chilling visions of what the next pandemic might do to the New York metro area’s economy and infrastructure. Assistance from Rose, the high-wattage daughter of a billionaire technocrat, and from the ethnically diverse supporting cast surrounding the white-presenting teen lead characters helps Konstant take his journey in a more hopeful direction that leaves him with new friends, new ambitions, and future prospects (not least with Rose) that look bright.
A fizzy mix of cool tech and hot action. (Science fiction. 12-17)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9781636985114
Page Count: 250
Publisher: Morgan James YA Fiction
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play.
Garber returns to the world of bestseller Caraval (2017), this time with the focus on younger, more daring sister Donatella.
Valenda, capital of the empire, is host to the second of Legend’s magical games in a single year, and while Scarlett doesn’t want to play again, blonde Tella is eager for a chance to prove herself. She is haunted by the memory of her death in the last game and by the cursed Deck of Destiny she used as a child which foretold her loveless future. Garber has changed many of the rules of her expanding world, which now appears to be infused with magic and evil Fates. Despite a weak plot and ultraviolet prose (“He tasted like exquisite nightmares and stolen dreams, like the wings of fallen angels, and bottles of fresh moonlight.”), this is a tour de force of imagination. Themes of love, betrayal, and the price of magic (and desire) swirl like Caraval’s enchantments, and Dante’s sensuous kisses will thrill readers as much as they do Tella. The convoluted machinations of the Prince of Hearts (one of the Fates), Legend, and even the empress serve as the impetus for Tella’s story and set up future volumes which promise to go bigger. With descriptions focusing primarily on clothing, characters’ ethnicities are often indeterminate.
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play. (glossary) (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-09531-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Bound to be popular.
A suddenly trendy trope—conflict and romance between members of conquering and enslaved races—enlivened by fantasy elements loosely drawn from Arabic tradition (another trend!).
In an original, well-constructed fantasy world (barring some lazy naming), the Scholars have lived under Martial rule for 500 years, downtrodden and in many cases enslaved. Scholar Laia has spent a lifetime hiding her connection to the Resistance—her parents were its leaders—but when her grandparents are killed and her brother’s captured by Masks, the eerie, silver-faced elite soldiers of the Martial Empire, Laia must go undercover as a slave to the terrifying Commandant of Blackcliff Military Academy, where Martials are trained for battle. Meanwhile, Elias, the Commandant’s not-at-all-beloved son, wants to run away from Blackcliff, until he is named an Aspirant for the throne by the mysterious red-eyed Augurs. Predictably, action, intrigue, bloodshed and some pounding pulses follow; there’s betrayal and a potential love triangle or two as well. Sometimes-lackluster prose and a slight overreliance on certain kinds of sexual violence as a threat only slightly diminish the appeal created by familiar (but not predictable) characters and a truly engaging if not fully fleshed-out fantasy world.
Bound to be popular. (Fantasy. 13 & up)Pub Date: April 28, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-59514-803-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2015
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