Charlie and Katrina are just the first couple; hooked readers can expect the fun to continue.
Comedy, romance and chick lit mix with Greek mythology when Zeus sends Eros, daughter of Aphrodite, to Earth.
In Scott’s universe, Eros is female, and she commits a serious sin by falling in love with Orion, who may be a constellation but remains mortal. When Zeus finds out, he banishes Eros to 21st-century New Jersey, demanding that she make three love matches or he will kill Orion—but he’s taken away her love-creating powers. Since her mom had kept Eros’ forbidden liaison secret, Zeus banishes her too. He does put them in a nice house with a library and wine cellar, but he gives them no money. Aphrodite immediately occupies herself with drinking up the wine, but feisty Eros enrolls in high school, renaming herself “True Olympia.” Spotting Charlie, a shy boy who wants to play drums against his athletic family’s wishes, she matches him up with several girls who turn out to be completely incompatible, missing Katrina, the girl readers easily will see is Charlie’s true soul mate. Eros’ nonexistent fashion sense and her superconfident, in-your-face attitude provide plenty of chuckles, while Charlie and Katrina’s relationship drama keeps pages turning. Scott writes chapters from the viewpoints of “True,” Charlie and Katrina and treats the mythology lightly, with Percy Jackson–style irreverence.
Charlie and Katrina are just the first couple; hooked readers can expect the fun to continue. (Chick lit/fantasy. 12-17)Pub Date: May 6, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-7718-6
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2014
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play.
Garber returns to the world of bestseller Caraval (2017), this time with the focus on younger, more daring sister Donatella.
Valenda, capital of the empire, is host to the second of Legend’s magical games in a single year, and while Scarlett doesn’t want to play again, blonde Tella is eager for a chance to prove herself. She is haunted by the memory of her death in the last game and by the cursed Deck of Destiny she used as a child which foretold her loveless future. Garber has changed many of the rules of her expanding world, which now appears to be infused with magic and evil Fates. Despite a weak plot and ultraviolet prose (“He tasted like exquisite nightmares and stolen dreams, like the wings of fallen angels, and bottles of fresh moonlight.”), this is a tour de force of imagination. Themes of love, betrayal, and the price of magic (and desire) swirl like Caraval’s enchantments, and Dante’s sensuous kisses will thrill readers as much as they do Tella. The convoluted machinations of the Prince of Hearts (one of the Fates), Legend, and even the empress serve as the impetus for Tella’s story and set up future volumes which promise to go bigger. With descriptions focusing primarily on clothing, characters’ ethnicities are often indeterminate.
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play. (glossary) (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-09531-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Bound to be popular.
A suddenly trendy trope—conflict and romance between members of conquering and enslaved races—enlivened by fantasy elements loosely drawn from Arabic tradition (another trend!).
In an original, well-constructed fantasy world (barring some lazy naming), the Scholars have lived under Martial rule for 500 years, downtrodden and in many cases enslaved. Scholar Laia has spent a lifetime hiding her connection to the Resistance—her parents were its leaders—but when her grandparents are killed and her brother’s captured by Masks, the eerie, silver-faced elite soldiers of the Martial Empire, Laia must go undercover as a slave to the terrifying Commandant of Blackcliff Military Academy, where Martials are trained for battle. Meanwhile, Elias, the Commandant’s not-at-all-beloved son, wants to run away from Blackcliff, until he is named an Aspirant for the throne by the mysterious red-eyed Augurs. Predictably, action, intrigue, bloodshed and some pounding pulses follow; there’s betrayal and a potential love triangle or two as well. Sometimes-lackluster prose and a slight overreliance on certain kinds of sexual violence as a threat only slightly diminish the appeal created by familiar (but not predictable) characters and a truly engaging if not fully fleshed-out fantasy world.
Bound to be popular. (Fantasy. 13 & up)Pub Date: April 28, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-59514-803-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2015
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