This SF saga kickoff is hampered by cardboard characters and a surfeit of unnecessary tangents.
Sandrock’s debut YA novel—the first installment of his Mars High School saga—features a group of high schoolers on the red planet who are faced with solving an ancient mystery.
Set in the year 2354, the narrative largely revolves around Andie Ellis, a high school junior who lives with her father under Mars’ Olympus Mons, the “tallest volcano in the entire solar system.” When a major seismic event—a “Marsquake”—rocks the sprawling underground city and its inhabitants, Andie and her small group of friends believe that a mystery involving an ancient portal they discovered deep in the mountain could help them understand how to aid humanity. As crowds of people race to evacuate the city, Andie—accompanied by her friend Aiyana and a cat named Ares who somehow has abnormal intelligence (which is never explicitly explained)—explores subterranean labyrinths filled with wonders, racing against time and a massive volcano that could erupt at any second. Issues abound with this inaugural series entry, namely the paper-thinness of the characters’ depth—Andie is the only character with any kind of complexity. Aiyana is the stereotypical neglected kid from a bad family, and other friends (Ric and Reillee) are so poorly developed they’re essentially NPCs. Additionally, the narrative has a directionless feel to it. The intensity and energy of the primary arc (a looming disaster) is diluted by a myriad of tangents, like a Knowledge Bowl between high schools and a trip to a haunted house, that add very little to the overall reading experience. The humor is a positive, though, giving the narrative a decided levity. References to Andy Weir’s iconic red planet hero Mark Watney will bring smiles to SF fans.
This SF saga kickoff is hampered by cardboard characters and a surfeit of unnecessary tangents.Pub Date: June 21, 2024
ISBN: 9781963019018
Page Count: 409
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: April 17, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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