Beyond climactic.
This follow-up to After Life (2022) completes the Blue Bloods series offshoot duology.
It’s been two months since Schuyler Cervantes-Chase and Jack Force stopped Lucifer from carrying out a plan to exterminate all mortal Red Bloods in Manhattan with a plague. However, Jack’s twin brother, Max, was captured, and their friend Kingsley Martin was killed. Jack went searching for Max, and Schuyler hasn’t heard from him since. Without her bondmate, she’s relied more heavily on Oliver Golding-Chang, her human Familiar and best friend, for emotional comfort. Her secret life as a half-blood vampire, one of the immortal Blue Bloods, is complicated enough on a regular day. But now there’s a new girl at school, Aoife Hayward, and her grunge fashion sense stands out from the crowd at exclusive Duchesne. She also catches Schuyler’s attention as a possible supernatural threat. Who—or what—could she be? Meanwhile, Jack and Max are dealing with different types of confinement. This volume brings the journeys of Schuyler and her true love, Jack, to a close (at least in this parallel universe) while still being accessible to readers new to this world. De la Cruz has added a lot of conceptual layers to this fictional world, and not everything is wrapped up neatly and tidily, but those who have followed the series will likely feel satisfied in seeing off these characters. The author once again delivers supernatural melodrama that’s both high-spirited and absorbing. Contextual clues point to some ethnic diversity.
Beyond climactic. (Paranormal. 12-18)Pub Date: July 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781368067003
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
The magical world is fresh, but the storyline is less satisfying.
In a world where everyone has a magical ability based on the moon’s phase on their day of birth, magical education is reserved for those with exceptional talent.
Students at Aldryn College for Lunar Magics pursue the advanced study of magic. Emory Ainsleif is a Healer, an ability associated with House New Moon. Last spring, she followed her best friend, Romie Brysden, and seven others into the Dovermere Caves. In the deepest cave, known as the Belly of the Beast, Emory unwittingly took part in a ritual that left a peculiar mark on her wrist and left the other students dead. Back at Aldryn for the new school year, Emory begins to develop magical abilities that go beyond healing—and that she’s unable to control. She turns to Baz, Romie’s brother, for help—Baz was born during an eclipse, giving him unpredictable magic. Reluctant to train Emory but eager to find out what happened to his sister, Baz finally agrees, and together they begin to unravel what happened last spring. This dark fantasy, told in Emory’s and Baz’s alternating third-person perspectives, has a spooky atmosphere and rich worldbuilding. It slowly unfolds to reveal what really happened to Romie, but predictable plot twists and a gratuitous deus ex machina may frustrate readers. The central characters are described as having pale skin.
The magical world is fresh, but the storyline is less satisfying. (content warnings, Sacred Lunar Houses & their tidal alignments) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781665939270
Page Count: 544
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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