An exuberant high-tech ancient-world adventure.
After her adopted grandfather’s visionary weapons plans are stolen, a teenage girl joins forces with a soldier’s son to save the Roman Republic in this YA alternate-history novel.
In the year 79, 13-year-old Petra goes aboard an arriving ship to get available scrolls to copy for the Library of Alexandria. To her shock, the scrolls are plans for innovative weapons—the work of her adopted grandfather Hero. Cassius, a Roman officer who had tried to get these plans from Hero, must have stolen them. Petra and Hero travel to Pompeii to alert Pliny that Cassius, trying to put a new “false Nero” in power, has this military advantage. Upon arrival, Petra meets Pliny’s nephew, Gaius, a boy around her age whose father, Lucius, has been captured by Cassius’ forces. Gaius and Petra sneak into the coliseum to help Lucius fend off a mechanical gladiator and other dangers. Hero also deploys the nimble teens to drop into Cassius’ weapons factory. Afterward, as Petra and Hero depart for home, they discover that Vesuvius is about to erupt and that Cassius has a special new battleship. Petra and Gaius employ other intriguing contraptions before the story’s end. Over the course of the novel, Cooper provides an engaging spin on history that leverages some real-life historical figures (Hero, Pliny, and others) and almost nonstop action. The coliseum scene is a tour de force, with the teens filling it with water (as was sometimes done in ancient times) and facing a wonderfully realized “wall of death” of mechanized weapons. Cooper also includes some lovely moments in which the teens consider giving in to rage (“No revenge is worth our lives”) or flirt with each other. Although the revelation of Petra’s identity feels a bit rushed, it also tees up future exploits featuring the charming, intelligent main character.
An exuberant high-tech ancient-world adventure.Pub Date: April 22, 2022
ISBN: 9798986181202
Page Count: 213
Publisher: Independently Published
Review Posted Online: March 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
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
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