Enjoyable enough, but it doesn't stand out from the pack.
After her mother's death Katelyn trades in Los Angeles for a backwoods Arkansas town where everything, all the way down to deaths, is wolf-themed.
Going from the city to tiny Wolf Springs is a huge transition for Katelyn. In her grandfather's corner of the Ozark Mountains, cell-phone reception is spotty and legends are plentiful. As the new girl, Katelyn takes the spotlight over from the last big news in town—the mysterious death of a local girl, believed to have been killed by animals in the woods. The mystery is transparently (and humorously) built through a book on the town's history that is missing a page: the one in between a warning of a creature in the woods more fearsome than the wolves and the line, "And thus it remains that our good company shuns the wooded hills." While Katelyn is courted by standard paranormal-romance suitors, it's her relationship with new BFF Cordelia Fenner that takes center stage. Even though Katelyn is being attacked and hunted, it's Cordelia's plot (which directly references the Cordelia in King Lear) that slowly takes over the novel. From the town-history book to the Shakespeare parallel, the story has little time for subtlety. Instead of solving the mystery, the ending adds additional complications for the sequel to tackle.
Enjoyable enough, but it doesn't stand out from the pack. (Paranormal romance. 12-17)Pub Date: Nov. 22, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-385-74098-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
A lushly written story with an intriguing heart.
After praying to a Fate for help, Evangeline discovers the dangerous world of magic.
When her father passes away, Evangeline is left with her cold stepmother and kind but distant stepsister, Marisol. Despite inheriting a steady trust in magic, belief in her late mother’s homeland of the mystical North (where fantastical creatures live), and philosophy of hope for the future, her dreams are dashed when Luc, her love, pledges to marry Marisol instead. Evangeline desperately prays to the Prince of Hearts, a dangerous and fickle Fate famed for his heart that is waiting to be revived by his one true love—and his potentially lethal kisses. The bargain they strike sends her on a dark and magical journey throughout the land. The writing style fluctuates from clever and original to overly verbose and often confusing in its jumble of senses. While the pervasive magic and concept of the Fates as a religious system add interest, other fantasy elements are haphazardly incorporated without enough time devoted to building a cohesive world. However, the themes of love, the power of story, family influence, and holding onto belief are well rounded and add depth. The plot contains welcome surprises, and the large cast piques curiosity; readers will wish more time was spent getting to know them. Evangeline has rose-gold hair and, like other main characters, reads as White; there is diversity among the fantasy races in this world.
A lushly written story with an intriguing heart. (map) (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: Sept. 28, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-26839-6
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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
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