A fantasy that’s brimming with clever ideas and a dense mythology.
A YA fantasy epic follows a teenager destined to challenge the religion and status quo of her world.
“I hate being a prophet,” 14-year-old Iliya Rusul tells her spiritual “guardian” when she feels frustrated that he won’t give her all the information she needs. Iliya lives in a remote village and struggles to care for her disturbed mother and her siblings; work and medicine are hard to come by. Since her 13th birthday, an otherworldly being—known only as her guardian—has followed Iliya, giving her guidance and breadcrumbs of information about her role as a prophet who will affect the world. When Iliya learns that she can perform miracles of healing and diagnosing illnesses, she strives to help her neighbors. But each miracle comes at a steep price: Time is taken away from Iliya’s life. Determined to help those in need without losing herself, Iliya sets off from the village to discover the wider world. She meets new friends like Reth and Alisha, who explain how society has been divided into epicenters run by powerful, corrupt corporations. These epicenters create isolated villages like the one Iliya was born in. With her friends’ help and her guardian’s wisdom, Iliya realizes that the biggest miracle of all would be to equalize the world and redistribute all wealth, but like anything else, the cost of such a dangerous and complex endeavor may be too great a price to pay. In the same vein as Philip Pullman’s classic His Dark Materials series, Tracy’s novel puts likable, plucky heroes into both exciting action sequences and complicated inner debates about philosophy and religion. The added layer of economics with evil, all-powerful corporations and transactional miracles feels fresh. It’s a smart twist that brings Iliya’s adventures into conversations with the contemporary world. But younger readers may find themselves just as frustrated as the book’s hero, as Tracy does struggle to properly explain and build up such a complicated universe. Iliya’s long story takes its time introducing readers to how guardians, gods, cities, social classes, and technologies work. The exposition is heavy-handed and arrives curiously late, making for a rough start to such a long journey. Still, answers eventually come, and patient readers will be richly rewarded.
A fantasy that’s brimming with clever ideas and a dense mythology.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
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