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
A sweet, romantic visit to the iconic Disney Fairies world.
The Pixie Dust Root is in danger, and one fairy is determined to save it—and the Pixie Dust Tree that all of Pixie Hollow depends upon.
In this stand-alone story set in the same world as Allison Saft’s Wings of Starlight (2025), Periwinkle, a frost-talent who has a gift for finding things—or maybe they have a way of finding her?—discovers a lost thread of magic that grants her the ability to dream. But not all dreams are as sparkly as Periwinkle. One night, she awakens from a nightmare to find herself in the Winter Woods with a fairy she’s never met, a sparrow man named Weaver, who claims to be a rare dream-talent. Disconcertingly, Weaver knows her—he calls her “perfect Periwinkle” and for some reason doesn’t seem to like her very much. Nevertheless, Periwinkle finds herself drawn to Weaver. When he tells her he can save the Pixie Dust Root by spinning her dreams into thread if she helps him find the magic tools he needs, Periwinkle agrees. Their journey leads the pair, who are pale-skinned, to discover things they like about each other, too. This is an opposites-attract adventure with romantic tension, a high-stakes quest, personal discovery, and betrayal. The characters struggle with inner turmoil while also adjusting their understanding of each other. Bright balances the fun with explorations of themes of snap judgments, labels, and weaponizing fear.
A sweet, romantic visit to the iconic Disney Fairies world. (Fantasy. 12-18)Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2026
ISBN: 9780736447362
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Disney/Random House
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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