A wholesome and realistic coming-of-age novel—with magical flourishes.
A Washington, D.C., teen and her mother are stranded on a deserted island along with a group of strangers and a mysterious, possibly magical, force.
Seventeen-year-old Alaia’s mother is dying of cancer. Mama decides to return home to Thailand with her husband and daughter to enjoy life while she still can. Determined to make her mom happy, Alaia agrees to go on a yacht trip—although she’s anxious about the deep water—and even spends time with cute boatswain Bodin, who also has a Thai mom and a white dad. When the cruise suddenly goes wrong, a multinational group of 12 passengers of one lifeboat, including Alaia, Mama, and Bodin, wash up on a tropical island. (Alaia last saw Papa, an obstetrician, on deck helping a pregnant woman who went into labor.) With no food and Mama’s medicine running out, their chances of survival look grim, until members of the group begin to display strange abilities. Could Thai folktales really be coming to life? Neither purely a survival story nor a fairy tale, the narrative, in which personal struggles and growth take center stage, combines the complexities of navigating loss and growing up. Alaia’s OCD is an integral facet of the plot throughout, and her character arc is ultimately positive, focusing on mental health and forming and maintaining strong relationships.
A wholesome and realistic coming-of-age novel—with magical flourishes. (authors’ note, sources) (Fantasy. 12-17)Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374332
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Bound to be popular.
A suddenly trendy trope—conflict and romance between members of conquering and enslaved races—enlivened by fantasy elements loosely drawn from Arabic tradition (another trend!).
In an original, well-constructed fantasy world (barring some lazy naming), the Scholars have lived under Martial rule for 500 years, downtrodden and in many cases enslaved. Scholar Laia has spent a lifetime hiding her connection to the Resistance—her parents were its leaders—but when her grandparents are killed and her brother’s captured by Masks, the eerie, silver-faced elite soldiers of the Martial Empire, Laia must go undercover as a slave to the terrifying Commandant of Blackcliff Military Academy, where Martials are trained for battle. Meanwhile, Elias, the Commandant’s not-at-all-beloved son, wants to run away from Blackcliff, until he is named an Aspirant for the throne by the mysterious red-eyed Augurs. Predictably, action, intrigue, bloodshed and some pounding pulses follow; there’s betrayal and a potential love triangle or two as well. Sometimes-lackluster prose and a slight overreliance on certain kinds of sexual violence as a threat only slightly diminish the appeal created by familiar (but not predictable) characters and a truly engaging if not fully fleshed-out fantasy world.
Bound to be popular. (Fantasy. 13 & up)Pub Date: April 28, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-59514-803-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2015
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