Complex, entertaining, and thought provoking.
An out-of-body story that tackles societal ills with a science fiction bent.
Seventeen-year-old Megan Allen is celebrating her “three-month friendiversary” with LC. The two Black girls clicked instantly when they happened to meet in a suburban Atlanta coffee shop, and they’ve been inseparable ever since. Megan hasn’t had a friend like LC since she was a kid, so she’s thrilled. That all changes when, the morning after the party they went to, she wakes up alone, lying on the ground in the backyard of a boy she knows—in someone else’s body. As Megan adapts to her new, much taller frame, she races against time to find LC. But first, she has to figure out whose body she’s inhabiting now and assume her identity until she can get her own life (and body) back. Davenport’s genre-bending adventure zips along, with Megan adjusting to and fighting against her new reality. The examination of relevant teen themes of race, selfhood, and relationships plays out against the backdrop of an imaginatively developed landscape; Megan must believe in herself more than ever before if she’s going to save herself. In her YA debut, adult science fiction author Davenport deftly handles the body-switching plotline, keeping readers aware of who’s who while delivering all too believable scares in a story that’s a great choice for fans of Jordan Peele and Tiffany D. Jackson.
Complex, entertaining, and thought provoking. (Science fiction/thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780063255715
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
Perhaps a more genuinely enlightened protagonist would have made this debut more engaging
Audrey Rose Wadsworth, 17, would rather perform autopsies in her uncle’s dark laboratory than find a suitable husband, as is the socially acceptable rite of passage for a young, white British lady in the late 1800s.
The story immediately brings Audrey into a fractious pairing with her uncle’s young assistant, Thomas Cresswell. The two engage in predictable rounds of “I’m smarter than you are” banter, while Audrey’s older brother, Nathaniel, taunts her for being a girl out of her place. Horrific murders of prostitutes whose identities point to associations with the Wadsworth estate prompt Audrey to start her own investigation, with Thomas as her sidekick. Audrey’s narration is both ponderous and polemical, as she sees her pursuit of her goals and this investigation as part of a crusade for women. She declares that the slain aren’t merely prostitutes but “daughters and wives and mothers,” but she’s also made it a point to deny any alignment with the profiled victims: “I am not going as a prostitute. I am simply blending in.” Audrey also expresses a narrow view of her desired gender role, asserting that “I was determined to be both pretty and fierce,” as if to say that physical beauty and liking “girly” things are integral to feminism. The graphic descriptions of mutilated women don’t do much to speed the pace.
Perhaps a more genuinely enlightened protagonist would have made this debut more engaging . (Historical thriller. 15-18)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-27349-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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