Could have been excellent but misses the mark.
As World War II winds to a close, Soviets, Poles, and Ukrainians struggle for the upper hand.
Sixteen-year-old Maria, recently escaped from a German slave labor camp, and 17-year-old Kostya, a reluctant member of the UPA (Ukrainian nationalist partisans), are separately trying to return to their mutual hometown of Bród in Poland as the Red Army takes over from the German occupiers in August 1944. They’re on opposite sides: The UPA and the Polish resistance have been working against each other throughout the German occupation. When Maria stumbles upon members of the Soviet secret police about to kill an injured Kostya, she shoots them and saves Kostya’s life before learning of his background. Then, while trying to find him medical care, she encounters a group of Polish resistance fighters led by her brother, Tomek, whom she’d thought dead. After that, the plot gets a little confusing. This novel, like McCrina’s previous book, Traitor (2020), explores an interesting and relatively unexplored side of history, and the sentence-level writing is compelling. However, the author sacrifices clarity in her effort to produce excitement: She doesn’t provide enough background or write in a way that readers can easily keep track of what’s going on—and without fully understanding the action, it’s difficult to care very much about the characters.
Could have been excellent but misses the mark. (historical note, map, list of military and paramilitary forces, list of characters, author’s note) (Historical fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: April 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-374-31355-5
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations.
Magic, mystery, and love intertwine and invite in this newest take on the “enchanted circus” trope.
Sisters raised by their abusive father, a governor of a colonial backwater in a world vaguely reminiscent of the late 18th century, Scarlett and Donatella each long for something more. Scarlett, olive-skinned, dark of hair and attitude, longs for Caraval, the fabled, magical circus helmed by the possibly evil Master Legend Santos, while blonde, sunny Tella finds comfort in drink and the embraces of various men. A slightly awkward start, with inconsistencies of attitude and setting, rapidly smooths out when they, along with handsome “golden-brown” sailor Julian, flee to Caraval on the eve of Scarlett’s arranged marriage. Tella disappears, and Scarlett must navigate a nighttime world of magic to find her. Caraval delights the senses: beautiful and scary, described in luscious prose, this is a show readers will wish they could enter. Dresses can be purchased for secrets or days of life; clocks can become doors; bridges move: this is an inventive and original circus, laced with an edge of horror. A double love story, one sensual romance and the other sisterly loyalty, anchors the plot, but the real star here is Caraval and its secrets.
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations. (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-09525-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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