An intriguingly conceptualized story that struggles to create a compelling cast of characters.
“Godfather Death,” a lesser-known Brothers Grimm fairy tale, gets a gothic update in Craig’s latest stand-alone fantasy.
Hazel Lafitte’s birth doesn’t feel like a gift to her parents, who already struggle to support their 12 other children. But to everyone else, a 13th child is a rare and intriguing thing, and Hazel is promised to the Dreaded End, the god of death, whom she will come to know as Merrick. Merrick plans for Hazel to become a gifted healer and bestows upon her the surname Trépas. For many lonely years, she studies medicine in isolation. She also learns that she’s as cursed as she is gifted. Hazel sees many cures in visions, but sometimes she instead perceives a skull—or deathshead—that commands her to kill her patient. When the king falls ill with a mysterious plaguelike illness, Hazel is summoned to find a cure. As she grows close to the king’s family, she questions her talents, sees deathsheads she can’t accept, and encounters other gods who are pulling strings. There are glimmers of a fascinating world here, though shallow characterization lessens the impact of Hazel’s dilemmas and decisions. The opening scene will appeal to fans of Margaret Owen’s Little Thieves, and while readers expecting similar depth may be disappointed, the haunting atmosphere and worldbuilding details have wide appeal. Most characters read white; Merrick has “deep obsidian skin.”
An intriguingly conceptualized story that struggles to create a compelling cast of characters. (Fantasy. 12-18)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9780593482582
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
A dark and gripping feminist tale.
A young woman faces her past to discover the truth about one of her nation’s heroes.
When Effy Sayre, the only female architecture student at her university in Llyr, wins the competition to design Hiraeth Manor for the estate of the late Emrys Myrddin, national literary figure and her favorite author, it is the perfect opportunity to leave behind a recent trauma. She arrives to find the cliffside estate is literally crumbling into the ocean, and she quickly realizes things may not be as they seem. Preston, an arrogant literature student, is also working at the estate, gathering materials for the university’s archives and questioning everything Effy knows about Myrddin. When Preston offers to include her name on his thesis—which may allow her to pursue the dream of studying literature that was frustrated by the university’s refusal to admit women literature students—Effy agrees to help him. He’s on a quest for answers about the source of Myrddin’s most famous work, Angharad, a romance about a cruel Fairy King who marries a mortal woman. Meanwhile, Myrddin’s son has secrets of his own. Preston and Effy start to suspect that Myrddin’s fairy tales may hold more truth than they realize. The Welsh-inspired setting is impressively atmospheric, and while some of the mythology ends up feeling extraneous, the worldbuilding is immersive and thoughtfully addresses misogyny and its effects on how history is written. Main characters are cued white.
A dark and gripping feminist tale. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780063211506
Page Count: 384
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
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