As the setup and storyline will be thoroughly impenetrable to readers new to the series, this trilogy conclusion has an...
With hostility among Heart’s oldsouls toward newly born, unreincarnated children increasing, original newsoul Ana leads a revolution (Asunder, 2013, etc.).
Ana now knows that the virtual immortality of the people of Heart has come at the cost of countless souls that will never be born. Together with two staunch friends, she and boyfriend Sam journey to dragon country, where Ana hopes to find help in their upcoming final battle against the godlike being behind Heart’s atrocity. Ana’s difficult negotiations with an uber-prickly dragon are a real highlight. Unfortunately, they are too few when compared to the page-filling trek through the wilderness, where snow falls constantly but never seems to accumulate. During the journey, Ana and Sam experience the genre’s now–de rigueur estrangement of affection due to an utterly artificial misunderstanding. Though this serves to minimize the pages-long swoony clinches also demanded by the genre, it will irritate readers. An attempt to buttress the series’ worldbuilding with a couple of laughably inadequate paragraphs is too little, too late. Most problematic, though, is a climactic maneuver in which Ana, Sam and Meadows seem to have their cake and eat it too; the conclusion is both confusing and morally ambiguous, to say the least.
As the setup and storyline will be thoroughly impenetrable to readers new to the series, this trilogy conclusion has an audience only in the first two books’ most avid fans. (Dystopian fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-06-206081-5
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2013
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
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
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