Engaging but overloaded.
A series opener infused with Chinese folklore and populated by supernatural creatures.
As punishment for the first Emperor’s greed, the gods unleashed nightmarish Wrathlings to terrorize the Middle Kingdom, later known as China. The heavenly Jade Emperor eventually relented and provided the kingdom with protection: 12 warriors, each descended from a Chinese zodiac animal. Generations later, during the Second Opium War, the zodiac warriors’ source of power, a fountain called the Circle of Twelve, was dismantled, and the Descendants were cursed, becoming supernatural beings. In present-day Manhattan, the Earthly Branches Academy trains the Descendants and assigns them to protect mortals. When Julius Long, Chancellor of the Descendants’ High Council, dies while attempting to restore the Circle of Twelve, dissatisfaction with the Long family’s leadership begins to stir among the Council, and vampire Evangeline Long is compelled to continue her brother’s mission to prove her worth. To recover the Circle’s stolen pieces, Evangeline forms a specialized team: expert criminal and werewolf Tristan She, fox spirit Nicholas Hu (a master of disguise), Lei, a shaman with valuable knowledge of the Faerie realm, and Alice Jiang, a human who can read minds. This story has many appealing elements—a dangerous heist, a potential second-chance romance, and fantastical beings—but some of the more original elements are overly complex and unconvincing. The book also covers so much worldbuilding that it descends into infodumps and doesn’t fully coalesce.
Engaging but overloaded. (illustrated character guide) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: tomorrow
ISBN: 9780593646410
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
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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
Perhaps a more genuinely enlightened protagonist would have made this debut more engaging
Audrey Rose Wadsworth, 17, would rather perform autopsies in her uncle’s dark laboratory than find a suitable husband, as is the socially acceptable rite of passage for a young, white British lady in the late 1800s.
The story immediately brings Audrey into a fractious pairing with her uncle’s young assistant, Thomas Cresswell. The two engage in predictable rounds of “I’m smarter than you are” banter, while Audrey’s older brother, Nathaniel, taunts her for being a girl out of her place. Horrific murders of prostitutes whose identities point to associations with the Wadsworth estate prompt Audrey to start her own investigation, with Thomas as her sidekick. Audrey’s narration is both ponderous and polemical, as she sees her pursuit of her goals and this investigation as part of a crusade for women. She declares that the slain aren’t merely prostitutes but “daughters and wives and mothers,” but she’s also made it a point to deny any alignment with the profiled victims: “I am not going as a prostitute. I am simply blending in.” Audrey also expresses a narrow view of her desired gender role, asserting that “I was determined to be both pretty and fierce,” as if to say that physical beauty and liking “girly” things are integral to feminism. The graphic descriptions of mutilated women don’t do much to speed the pace.
Perhaps a more genuinely enlightened protagonist would have made this debut more engaging . (Historical thriller. 15-18)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-27349-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
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