A thematically and visually potent adventure with a strong cast.
This middle-grade sequel sees a girl, her heroic friends, and the animal kingdom fight against a hospital hungry for victims.
The year is 1908, and 12-year-old Chloe Ashton has awoken in an impossibly comfy bed. The bed is in a treehouse built by the dashing Brisco Knot, and she can hear her friend Mrs. Goodweather making breakfast. This idyllic morning follows the tragic events that separated her from her parents. And nearby, through the Oregon woods, an evil hospital thrives. Its ambulances race the countryside, raiding homes and bringing people back for murderous treatment. Chloe and her friends, including a white rat named Shakespeare, plan to break into the hospital and shut it down. Meanwhile, Lord Winchfillin and the Artist—who won Chloe in a card game from her horrid Uncle Blake—travel toward “the great silver mountain, Wy’east.” There, the vast animal kingdom shall meet and listen to Silas the Stargazer, a legendary hermit with whom the stars speak. His address, to predators and prey alike, will hopefully muster a force to stop humanity from inflicting permanent damage on the world. And is there any hope of rebuilding the Bridge of the Gods, to reconnect the lands of the north and south? In her novel, Rios (Bridge of the Gods, 2017) brings chaos—but also healing—to a sprawling cast of humans and talking animals. Characters like King Auberon, who’s a gigantic bear, lend mythic grandeur to the narrative, and there’s a sylvan lyricism in their depiction (“Small twigs and several dead bees fell out of his fur, and the smell of fish was stronger than ever”). Throughout, the author emphasizes how everything—and everyone—in nature is connected. When Chloe receives praise on a job well done, she says, “It was my friends too.” And readers should note that the story begins with the constellations Cygnus and Scorpius warning Earth of danger. Despite some frightening battle scenes, the finale is a joyous affair. Further escapades starring a teen Chloe would be welcome.
A thematically and visually potent adventure with a strong cast.Pub Date: June 4, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63152-545-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
There are unforgettable beauties in this very sexy story.
Passion, friendship, heartbreak, and forgiveness ring true in Lovering's debut, the tale of a young woman's obsession with a man who's "good at being charming."
Long Island native Lucy Albright, starts her freshman year at Baird College in Southern California, intending to study English and journalism and become a travel writer. Stephen DeMarco, an upperclassman, is a political science major who plans to become a lawyer. Soon after they meet, Lucy tells Stephen an intensely personal story about the Unforgivable Thing, a betrayal that turned Lucy against her mother. Stephen pretends to listen to Lucy's painful disclosure, but all his thoughts are about her exposed black bra strap and her nipples pressing against her thin cotton T-shirt. It doesn't take Lucy long to realize Stephen's a "manipulative jerk" and she is "beyond pathetic" in her desire for him, but their lives are now intertwined. Their story takes seven years to unfold, but it's a fast-paced ride through hookups, breakups, and infidelities fueled by alcohol and cocaine and with oodles of sizzling sexual tension. "Lucy was an itch, a song stuck in your head or a movie you need to rewatch or a food you suddenly crave," Stephen says in one of his point-of-view chapters, which alternate with Lucy's. The ending is perfect, as Lucy figures out the dark secret Stephen has kept hidden and learns the difference between lustful addiction and mature love.
There are unforgettable beauties in this very sexy story.Pub Date: June 12, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-6964-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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