Meh.
A blonde California teen finds herself trapped in a fantasy world besieged by evil.
When 17-year-old Julia loses her house to wildfires, her family moves in with her grandmother Ina, who reveals to Julia that she is actually royalty and a refugee from somewhere called Aevilen. While snooping for evidence to confirm this unlikely tale, Julia discovers an enchanted necklace that transports her to an alternate dimension; before she can return home, she has to help Aevilen find the champion it so desperately needs. Clunky, clichéd prose describes a painfully generic, vaguely medieval European setting. Julia immediately bonds with Thezdan, a brooding, auburn-haired, green-eyed Guardian (read “Ranger”); other nonhuman races, like the Sylvan and Rokkin, fill the niches of stereotypical elves and dwarves. The narrative follows the beats of a video game, including plot tokens, puzzles, and side quests. Julia has the bland personality of a reader-insert, and her plot-convenient magic is all performed by her necklace with a hand-waving “somehow.” Other characters show more depth, but all view Julia solely through her ancestry. The chief antagonist—the All Aevilen People’s Party, which overthrew the (uncritically “good”) monarchy with random rhetoric of “Revolution”—is an obviously corrupt, sadistic front for a cartoonishly evil deity, a depiction that will baffle contemporary readers. Nonetheless, the action moves smartly, the violence is satisfyingly gory, and the volume ends with a textbook cliffhanger. All characters seem to be white.
Meh. (Fantasy. 12-18)Pub Date: May 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-951710-27-9
Page Count: 302
Publisher: Month9Books
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and...
A deliciously creepy page-turning gem from first-time writer and illustrator Brosgol finds brooding teenager Anya trying to escape the past—both her own and the ghost haunting her.
Anya feels out of place at her preppy private school; embarrassed by her Russian heritage, she has worked hard to lose her accent and to look more like everyone else. After a particularly frustrating morning at the bus stop, Anya storms off, only to accidentally fall down a well. Down in the dark hole, she meets Emily, a ghost who claims to be a murder victim trapped down in the dank abyss for 90 years. With Emily’s help, Anya manages to escape, though once free, she learns that Emily has traveled out with her. At first, Emily seems like the perfect friend; however, once her motives become clear, Anya learns that “perfect” may only be an illusion. A moodily atmospheric spectrum of grays washes over the clean, tidy panels, setting a distinct stage before the first words appear. Brosgol’s tight storytelling invokes the chilling feeling of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline (2002), though for a decidedly older set.
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and outward appearance. (Graphic supernatural fiction. 12 & up)Pub Date: June 7, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59643-552-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning.
Two teens train to be society-sanctioned killers in an otherwise immortal world.
On post-mortal Earth, humans live long (if not particularly passionate) lives without fear of disease, aging, or accidents. Operating independently of the governing AI (called the Thunderhead since it evolved from the cloud), scythes rely on 10 commandments, quotas, and their own moral codes to glean the population. After challenging Hon. Scythe Faraday, 16-year-olds Rowan Damisch and Citra Terranova reluctantly become his apprentices. Subjected to killcraft training, exposed to numerous executions, and discouraged from becoming allies or lovers, the two find themselves engaged in a fatal competition but equally determined to fight corruption and cruelty. The vivid and often violent action unfolds slowly, anchored in complex worldbuilding and propelled by political machinations and existential musings. Scythes’ journal entries accompany Rowan’s and Citra’s dual and dueling narratives, revealing both personal struggles and societal problems. The futuristic post–2042 MidMerican world is both dystopia and utopia, free of fear, unexpected death, and blatant racism—multiracial main characters discuss their diverse ethnic percentages rather than purity—but also lacking creativity, emotion, and purpose. Elegant and elegiac, brooding but imbued with gallows humor, Shusterman’s dark tale thrusts realistic, likable teens into a surreal situation and raises deep philosophic questions.
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning. (Science fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4424-7242-6
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
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