An inventive romp through a variety of intriguing worlds with captivating characters.
This third installment of a YA fantasy series stars an intrepid hero.
Anonymous’ tale follows The Legends of Eve: Book of Fire (2020) and focuses on “Fujita, the School of Wind and Wisdom.” Fujak is a young man of the Fuj family. It has been some two years since he was at Fujita, and he returns with friends. But Fujak is nervous. He brings along a romantic interest named Tayna, who is greeted by Fujak’s father with a dagger pointed at her throat and some tough questions. Quite the welcome indeed; still, Tayna passes the initial inspection. Meanwhile, the people at Fujita are in a festive mood. But things take a turn when a prophet informs Fujak that trouble is just around the corner. According to the seer’s prediction, “This parade, this festival, this happiness and dancing is only the precursor before the death that sweeps through this Kingdom…this year.” Fujak is just one of several characters who will be tested. As the prophet tells others, “The world as you know it will burn, but from its ashes may come hope.” And so begins an imaginative adventure with an extensive cast that incorporates the elite Crystal Soldiers, creatures called Archons, and even a sexual experience for Fujak. Although there is a lot to keep track of, the narrative rewards patience with unexpected developments. At several points, Fujak even addresses readers directly. Then there are numerous changes of scenery that include an icy tundra and a lush rainforest. But chapters tend to be heavy with conversations, and the dialogue is often unproductive and marked by ellipses, as when one character says: “Please tell me…you aren’t thinking about going in there.” Such assertions are not particularly creative in a work that so often bursts with surprises. Still, other portions of dialogue put a twist on the genre. For instance, talk of understanding the nature of Archons (“Do we consider them monsters…for merely wanting to survive?”) helps make this engaging story something more than just a tale of good versus evil.
An inventive romp through a variety of intriguing worlds with captivating characters.Pub Date: July 15, 2022
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 688
Publisher: DreamWords Publishing, LLC
Review Posted Online: Aug. 8, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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