Mori’s crackerjack characterization (balanced between appealing and appalling) and the tight pacing overcome this finale’s...
The origin of an antihero.
When readers first met Mori (Lock & Mori, 2015), it was hard to see how she’d eventually become the dreaded Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis. Didn’t this white teen solve crimes with her schoolmate, Lock? Hadn’t she defeated her abusive, serial killer father? But now Mori has spent the last four months locked in a horse stall. Alice, an old friend of Mori’s con-artist mother, the salvation she’d been convinced would rescue her younger brothers from abuse, turns out to have conned her. Alice wants Mori’s help restarting a criminal enterprise, and she holds her brothers hostage. When Mori gets out of this place—and she will escape—she’s going to make sure Alice can never hurt them again. Nothing, not even the disapproval and grief of her beloved Lock, will prevent Mori from utterly stopping the crooked cops and greedy thieves who’ve hurt her. Mori herself is such an engaging, well-rounded character that the villains’ incoherent choices seem even more cartoonish by contrast, but the cinematic tension of her final fall makes it hard to worry about flaws in the plotting. This isn’t a Sherlock Holmes mystery: this is the villain’s back story.
Mori’s crackerjack characterization (balanced between appealing and appalling) and the tight pacing overcome this finale’s weaknesses of plotting and prose . (Mystery. 13-15)Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-2309-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Teens who have outgrown Percy Jackson and moved into the paranormal-romance phase won't mind the amateurish prose; they'll...
What if Bella Swan were a demigod?
Helen is the loveliest girl on Nantucket, but until the sexy Delos family comes to the island, she's always tried to stay under the radar. It's not just her looks that attract attention; Helen knows her strength, speed and hearing all approach superpower levels. But she can't stay hidden in the presence of the Delos cousins, Jason, Hector, Cassandra, Ariadne and the sexiest one, Lucas—yes, Lucas. (Some complicated handwaving explains why he is named Lucas instead of—as was intended—Paris.) Readers trained on trendy Greek mythological fantasy won't be surprised to learn both Helen and the newcomers are demigods. In their blonde beauty (really!), they look exactly like their quasi-mythological ancestors and are cursed by the Furies and the gods to replay ancient dramas across history. Lucas and Helen are both drawn together and forced apart by fate and desire. The cousins, meanwhile, help Helen develop her powerful demigod abilities while tutoring her on the massive forces arrayed against her. Though weirdly inconsistent perspective, startling shifts of voice and scenes that feel like they've been copied almost directly from Twilight break the flow, the drama's epic scale complements the love story's pacing. A refreshingly strong heroine carries readers into the setup for book two.
Teens who have outgrown Percy Jackson and moved into the paranormal-romance phase won't mind the amateurish prose; they'll be caught up in the we-must-we-can't sexual tension. (Paranormal romance. 13-15)Pub Date: June 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-201199-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
Interesting plot twists almost carry endless pages of Forbidden Love.
Real sexual tension apparently requires all the divine forces in the universe be arrayed against you, if this book is any guide.
Demigods and erstwhile lovers Helen and Lucas can never be together, because they're secretly first cousins. Just in case the couple realizes that relationships between cousins aren't considered incest in their home state of Massachusetts (or 24 other states in the union), Lucas's father explains that the future of the demigod species, nay, of the entire planet depends on the couple staying apart. Because! Of history! And magical things! And could Lucas just stop being so selfish? Lucas responds by pretending to hate Helen, following the standard tortured-angsty-boy recipe for staying away from his girlfriend. Poor Helen, meanwhile, is spending all her sleeping hours traveling the Underworld. She hopes to defeat the Furies and end the senseless feuding that has tormented the semi-divine Scions since the Trojan War, but she can't seem to make any headway in the blasted hellscape of the Underworld. Not to mention, her magical journeys are keeping her from REM sleep, thus probably killing her. At least she's met a hot new Scion in the Underworld to fill the vacancy Lucas left by being such a meanie.
Interesting plot twists almost carry endless pages of Forbidden Love. (Paranormal romance. 13-15)Pub Date: May 29, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-201201-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2012
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