A rollicking retelling, wrapping commentary on our world into a delightful ahistorical package.
Imagine a world where all genders are equal, merit rather than birth dictates power, and love is love: magic, indeed.
Despite packing in at least two books’ worth of content and condensing major portions of the canon into a span of months, this closer effectively wraps up both the trilogy’s dramatic (and sometimes bawdy) teen romances and its competing power plays. In this alternate Arthurian world, Merlin is a girl, Guinevere got pregnant by and eloped with someone who is neither Arthur nor Lancelot (who is himself happily involved with Percival), and Arthur would rather read than lead. Arthur and Emry journey to Anwen on a magical quest and fight multiple battles at home, where Arthur’s council wishes to keep Camelot static, and in the field, where King Yurien seeks dominion over Camelot and is aided by evil sorceress Bellicent. Many secondary characters have their own meaningful arcs, particularly Guinevere and Morgana. Sir Tor, the young nonbinary knight, serves as a wise mentor to Lance and Arthur in ways that readers may find uncomfortably evoke the trope of the “magical other,” but the casual acceptance of a range of queer identities is a key component of the new Camelot. Previous books established racial diversity among secondary characters; class and gender are greater obstacles to acceptance and advancement.
A rollicking retelling, wrapping commentary on our world into a delightful ahistorical package. (Historical fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2024
ISBN: 9780593623015
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 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
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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