Memorable heroes and daunting villains headline this fantasy series’ thrilling sophomore installment.
A royal family rallies against formidable creatures threatening their kingdom’s farmsteads in Creith’s YA fantasy, one in a series.
Princess Kiar is already worried about the kingdom of Valenia’s upcoming winter as wildlife eats or tramples the realm’s crops. She’s further unnerved when her grandmother forwards a vague warning (“the past has come back”). This may be a reference to the kingdom’s bog, which is seemingly getting bigger and overtaking the pasture. Kiar feels a presence out in that bog, as if something is watching her and her loved ones, including her foster brother and romantic interest Tuan. Indeed, locals describe raiders resembling walking trees with an eerie “stiff-jointed” style of mobility invading their farmsteads, apparently after the livestock. These monstrous “bog-walkers” are difficult to take down, which Kiar and her family quickly learn during a confrontation that leaves King Tir seriously injured. Valenians aren’t the only ones under threat of the expanding bog; someone from northern enemy territory of Noermark asks for Kiar’s help. The princess desperately searches for background about the bog-walkers—where they’re from and why they seem particularly afraid of her. Nods to the first installment in the series, The Swan Harp (2024), are clearly and concisely woven into Kiar’s first-person narration, though a few relatively minor characters pop up with no reminders of their pre-existing relationships. Kiar and her family are a well-rounded bunch, most of them “swanfolk” with an ability to shift between swan and human forms. They find themselves in exhilarating battle scenes that require combat skills and shrewdness as well as magic. The bog-walkers are exceedingly creepy, even after the story illuminates their mysterious origin. A rousing first half is followed by a somewhat less-exciting second half and a noticeably prolonged final act. Nonetheless, the closing pages offer surprises and plenty of reasons to stick around for the upcoming finale.
Memorable heroes and daunting villains headline this fantasy series’ thrilling sophomore installment.Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2024
ISBN: 9798990803022
Page Count: 388
Publisher: Type Eighteen Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2024
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
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