Tedious; only for readers who can't get enough of Varen, Isobel and Poe.
Her goth boyfriend, Varen Nethers, disappeared into the sinister, Poe-inflected dream world in Nevermore (2010), and now it's up to cheerleader Isobel Lanley to find him again.
The key to rescuing Varen revolves around the mysterious “Poe Toaster,” a figure who visits Poe's Baltimore gravesite each year on the author's birthday. Isobel contrives to get to Baltimore on the fateful date but doesn't make much of a plan; most of the action leading up to Isobel's rendezvous with the Toaster involves her encountering frightening fragments of the dream world and hiding those encounters from family, teachers and even her sarcastic sidekick, Gwen. Readers who have forgotten the events of Nevermore are caught up slowly as the plot of this sequel unfolds; readers are reminded of Varen immediately, but the intricacies of the demonlike Nocs and the mechanics of dreams and waking are left somewhat unspecified. The prose is long-winded, moody and filled with awkward figures of speech (“Like flint striking in the dark, Gwen's words snatched Isobel's attention”). Dreams, chase scenes and confrontations blur into one another and become repetitive. Several dream scenes rely on characters falling asleep at unlikely moments (in a cold catacomb, waiting for the story's climax, for example), and the ending brings little in the way of resolution.
Tedious; only for readers who can't get enough of Varen, Isobel and Poe. (Paranormal romance. 12 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0204-1
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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
Crowd-pleasing fun laced with political fire: a winner.
Bestselling author Faizal returns to the universe of We Hunt the Flame (2019) with a stand-alone duology opener.
Orphaned Arthie, brown-skinned with mauve hair, has created a criminal empire out of sheer pluck despite being Ceylani in Ettenia, where laws favor white people. She pulled legendary pistol Calibore from a stone plinth (though the prophecy that doing so would make her the nation’s leader turned out to be a hoax). She’s also built Spindrift, a teahouse-cum-bloodhouse, where she gathers secrets from wealthy humans and vampires, amassing power and security. Now Arthie has her sights set on vengeance—and the Ram, Ettenia’s masked monarch. When she and Jin, her brother-by-choice (who’s cued East Asian), are drawn into a heist, they assemble a diverse crew of immigrants whose roles riff on genre archetypes. The lush prose pulses with feeling as revelations are dropped and the tension ratchets up, keeping the pages turning as the motley gang plans to infiltrate a vampire society, retrieve a stolen ledger, and double-cross one of the Ram’s guards (who might be planning to double-cross them). Their ultimate goal: taking down the colonizing Ettenians and the exploitative East Jeevant Company. It’s all very exciting right up to the action-packed finale, which promises more conspiracy and (hopefully) justice to come. This compelling read offers interesting commentary on our society while feeling entirely real within the context of its own worldbuilding.
Crowd-pleasing fun laced with political fire: a winner. (map) (Fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2024
ISBN: 9780374389406
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023
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