A YA adventure with ethereal prose and appealing characters.
In Dunn’s YA sci-fi debut, set in a world where people can see glimpses of future events, one teenager sees a vision of herself killing her little sister.
As the story opens, Callie is a day shy of 17, the age when everyone in the nation of North Amerie receives a memory from their future selves. Most expect to see what career path they’ve taken, but Callie witnesses something disturbing: she walks into what appears to be a hospital room and stabs her 6-year-old sis Jessa in the heart with a syringe. Predicted crimes like these usually lead to arrest, but a sympathetic guard at the Future Memory Agency lets Callie escape. Callie thinks that Jessa’s psychic ability is the reason that she’s eventually headed for a hospital, so she struggles to keep her future memory a secret from both FuMA and the psychic-hunting Technology Research Agency. However, Callie hopes that she can somehow alter her future. There’s a whirlwind of plot in this novel: an imprisoned Callie later tries to stop FuMA from forcibly retrieving her future memory, and she eventually teams with the Underground, a group of people with psychic abilities who are hiding from TechRA. There’s also an abundance of mystery: Jessa is a precognitive but may also be capable of much more, and a seedy FuMA doctor, Bellows, claims to have known Callie’s father, who left her when she was young. Romance comes in the form of Callie’s enigmatic schoolmate Logan, who inexplicably ended his friendship with her five years ago. Their love, however, may be doomed from the start, as Logan is the Underground’s contact in Eden City, which Callie is avoiding in order to steer clear of Jessa. However, that doesn’t impede many moments of the couple kissing or swoon-worthy lines such as, “I don’t think I’ll ever be any good at leaving Logan.” Hints of FuMA’s ultimate goal amp up the story’s tension considerably, as the obviously deceitful agency may be working toward a significantly grimmer future. Dunn leaves numerous questions unanswered, particularly the origins of future memory, which could potentially be explored in future books.
A YA adventure with ethereal prose and appealing characters.Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-63375-238-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A magical story with a classic Disney feel exploring love, friendship, and leading amid hardship.
Shortly before the new queen’s coronation, a monster wreaks havoc, forcing a young fairy princess to intervene at her own risk.
In Pixie Hollow, the Never Fairies of Spring, Summer, and Autumn work to create seasons for the humans on the Mainland, while the fairies of Winter remain apart in the Winter Woods. Clarion, a governing-talent fairy who’s soon to take over as queen of Pixie Hollow, often looks wonderingly at the Winter Woods. But crossing the border is against the rules set forth by her mentor, Queen Elvina. When a monster from Winter breaks free and enters Spring, Clarion bristles at Elvina’s dismissal. Determined to be involved, she secretly travels to Winter, meets with Milori, the Warden of the Winter Woods, and learns that the land is nothing like what she’s heard, making her wonder what else the queen has been untruthful about. Together Milori and Clarion work to discover the secrets of Pixie Hollow, which may save them—or lead to death. Set in a magical place of flowers and pixie dust, this story considers the control we have over the roles we’re assigned. Clarion is a beautifully complex character—strong yet insecure, lovable due to her willingness to prioritize relationships over rules. Themes of fear, forbidden love, and good vs. evil are present in this fast-paced, engaging tale. Main characters are cued white.
A magical story with a classic Disney feel exploring love, friendship, and leading amid hardship. (Fantasy. 12-18)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781368098458
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Disney Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
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
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