Atmospheric, moody, and great fun.
A runaway works at a boardinghouse for the damned in late-Georgian–period England.
In a prologue, Louisa informs readers that she works for the Devil among other odd and cursed employees, cleaning up after the deaths of those who visit Coldthistle House. After fleeing an abusive, governess-training boarding school, Louisa scrapes by telling fortunes until she’s rescued from a sticky situation by a crone who promises employment at Coldthistle House. On the way, they’re joined by fellow Coldthistle-bound travelers: a wealthy (if unpleasant) man and his charming nephew, Lee, who takes to Louisa right away despite the fact that he’s a guest and she’s to be a new servant. Once they arrive, the crone quickly transforms into the much more proper house matron and manager, Mrs. Haylam, and Louisa’s other new co-workers quickly befriend her. But soon Louisa uncovers just how supernatural the eerie proprietor, Mr. Morningside, and the rest of the residents are. All guests are sinners marked for death. Louisa must help Lee with a mystery of his own and prove he doesn’t deserve a grisly end—or discover if he does. Characters’ emotional connections create wonderful tension. Periodic illustrations and excerpts from fictional supernatural texts provide concise exposition. Most characters are white, while many are inhuman. Louisa’s a classic Gothic narrator, her diction recalling genre standards. The ending is satisfying without ruling out sequels.
Atmospheric, moody, and great fun. (Horror. 13-adult)Pub Date: May 30, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-249861-8
Page Count: 416
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Intriguing but convoluted and underdeveloped.
When the veil between life and death is torn, threatening everything and everyone she loves, Célie is determined to take “till death do us part” as a challenge, her role as Bride of Death notwithstanding, in this sequel to The Scarlet Veil (2023).
Célie’s life has very abruptly gone to hell in a handbasket. She’s been turned into a vampire and abandoned by the mysterious and infuriatingly alluring man who turned her. Fearful of hurting her friends, she can’t eat or sleep, and she loathes herself and what she’s become. Célie is also being haunted by her late sister, Filippa. The dead are walking, something is going wrong with magic, and Death himself has manifested in corporeal form to claim his due. Only Célie can mend what’s been broken—but at what cost? This sequel picks up without much time spent reorienting readers to plot points or character dynamics. As in the first book, the drama spools on for too long, only properly picking up momentum about two-thirds of the way through the book. What starts as a slow-burn romance soon becomes quite the opposite, and although the stakes are generally higher than before and there are some very touching moments, the narrative never quite comes together in a satisfying way, and the worldbuilding and characters feel shallow and lack sufficient context. Most characters are light-skinned.
Intriguing but convoluted and underdeveloped. (Paranormal. 16-18)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063258808
Page Count: 624
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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