Though imperfect, a well-paced, cinematic adventure with shape-shifting birds to keep things exciting
A year after she died and discovered her nonhuman origins, Aza is drawn back into the conflicts between Earth and Magonia (Magonia, 2015).
Aza Ray Boyle had once been a white girl, dying since she was a toddler. When she died, she discovered she was truly indigo-skinned Aza Ray Quel, daughter of pirate Capt. Quel of Magonia. There, where the sky people control the weather, bird folk steer sailing ships amid squallwhales and stormsharks. Aza's returned to Earth in the (soon-to-be-shed) borrowed skin of a black girl, disguised as an exchange student and dating her real boyfriend, Jason. Their peaceful year concludes when Jason—concerned by reports that a Magonian assassin is after Aza—goes full stalker and turns her in to a creepy government agency for her own protection. Biracial (black/white) Jason, who has an OCD–like disability, soon regrets his decision, but when he tries to enlist his mothers' help, they fear for his sanity and have him institutionalized. Alternating Aza and Jason chapters have lovely, lyrical, and nigh-indistinguishable voices (Jason says he's "turned inside out, a sweater tugged over a head and unraveled into yarn"; Aza calls herself "flat origami, all the folds crushed in on themselves"). This is pure science fantasy in a mishmash magical world, absent the character realism that opened Book 1, but it’ll keep readers moving.
Though imperfect, a well-paced, cinematic adventure with shape-shifting birds to keep things exciting . (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-232055-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2016
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes
A gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.
Fifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting—plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers—escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel.
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes . (Science fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25675-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
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