A heady blend of the fantastical, the murderous, and the romantic.
Magic, romance, and mystery intertwine in this stand-alone historical fantasy.
It’s been one year since Myra’s parents vanished without a trace, and she has been left alone to take care of her ailing younger sister, Lucy. Barely making ends meet, Myra survives as a painter’s apprentice in the same studio where her own mother used to work. But just like her mother’s, Myra’s artistry holds a big secret: As a Prodigy, Myra can use her painting to change the bodies of humans and animals. If she is found out, her life could be in danger from those who would exploit her abilities—or destroy her as an abomination. But when the governor’s wife offers Myra money (and threatens to expose her secret) to bring Will, her recently deceased son, back to life, Myra has no choice but to comply. In doing so, she meets August, Will’s painfully shy brother, and—once Myra realizes that Will’s death was not an accident—they immerse themselves in a world of dangerous secrets. This effortless blend of fantasy, sisterly love, sweet romance, and murder mystery is a gorgeous take on Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. The novel focuses on Myra’s touching relationships with Lucy and August, the twisting murder investigation, and, above all, Myra’s own empowering journey. The main characters are cued as White; the story thoughtfully addresses Lucy’s chronic illness and August’s anxiety.
A heady blend of the fantastical, the murderous, and the romantic. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: March 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-335-41866-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters.
Two young people save the world and all the magic in it in this series opener.
When tall, dark-haired, white-skinned Christopher Forrester goes to stay with his grandfather in Scotland, he ventures to the top of a forbidden hill and discovers astonishing magical creatures. His grandfather explains that Christopher’s family are guardians of the “way through” to the Archipelago, where the Glimourie Tree grows—the source of glimourie, or the world’s magic. Black-haired, olive-skinned Mal Arvorian, a girl from the Archipelago, is being pursued by a murderer, and she asks Christopher for help, launching them both on a wild, dangerous journey to discover why the glimourie is disappearing and how to stop it. Together with a part-nereid woman, a ratatoska, a dragon, and a Berserker, they face an odyssey of dangerous tasks to find the Immortal, the only one who can reverse the draining of magic. Like Lyra and Will from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, Mal and Christopher sacrifice their innocence for experience, meeting every challenge with depthless courage until they finally reach the maze at the heart of it all. Rundell throws myriad obstacles in her characters’ way, but she gives them tools both tangible (a casapasaran, which always points the way home, and the glamry blade, which cuts through anything) and intangible (the desire “to protect something worth protecting” and an “insistence that the world is worth loving”). Final art not seen.
An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters. (map, bestiary) (Fantasy. 10-16)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9780593809860
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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