Disappointingly derivative and awkwardly contrived; skip.
A white British boy stumbles into the role of chosen one in this unimaginative urban portal fantasy.
Finmere Tingewick Smith has always lived a double life. Ever since he was left on the steps of London’s Old Bailey as an infant, he’s inexplicably spent his childhood secretly alternating years at two different schools, complete with two different uniforms and two different best friends. He has learned to blend into two completely different social environments without giving anything away. But on his 16th birthday, everything changes when Fin’s guardian is murdered. He learns that Judge Harlequin Brown was the leader of the (seemingly all-male) Order of the Knights of Nowhere, an organization dedicated to traveling between and protecting two distinct realms, The Somewhere (our known universe) and The Nowhere (the one of many parallel universes nearest to our own). When a Knight goes rogue, kidnapping The Nowhere’s Storyholder, a blonde woman, and throwing both universes into chaos, it’s up to Fin and his two best friends, upper-class white Christopher and working-class black Joe, to rescue the Storyholder and restore peace to the worlds. The third-person narration overflows with tedious information that distracts from and convolutes the plot. The few men of color and women who appear in the story are underdeveloped at best and stereotypical tropes or plot devices at worst.
Disappointingly derivative and awkwardly contrived; skip. (Fantasy. 14-17)Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4732-2189-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Gollancz/Trafalgar
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2018
A fresh and compelling voice.
A second chance prompts a deadly game of wits.
Lu Mingshin is about to be executed. Her fiance, Prince Ren, has ordered her death after using her family’s wealth to vie for the position of crown prince from his half brothers, each of them born to one of the widower king’s Royal Ladies. If that wasn’t enough, Mingshin learns that her Uncle Yi arranged her mother’s murder, and Aylin, her two-faced noblewoman cousin, will be marrying Ren instead. On the verge of death, Mingshin desperately wishes for another chance—only to see flashes of light and wake up two years in the past. With her memories of the future intact, Mingshin intends to not become a victim again, training in combat and vowing to endear herself to King Reifeng to secure her family’s safety. Strange dreams reveal the source of the magic that allowed her to jump back in time. A powerful mage is also on Mingshin’s tail, along with the ruthless enemies she’s already aware of. As Mingshin starts to rewrite her life’s story, new individuals come into play: a visiting Elder with questionable motives; Princess Yunle, who becomes a new best friend; and Prince Jieh, one of Ren’s rivals for the throne. Set in a fantasy world reminiscent of imperial China, this debut novel’s structure has a few oddities, but the clever premise and intriguing and suspenseful plot will keep readers engaged.
A fresh and compelling voice. (Fantasy. 14-17)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023
ISBN: 9781454949923
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Union Square & Co.
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
The shelves are already crowded with teens-training-for-space stories; there’s no need to make room for this one.
Teens become astronauts in record time for an inaugural space mission.
After losing his family to “the greatest flood Rome has ever known,” skilled white Italian swimmer Leo Danieli would never have expected that in his darkest moment he would be drafted by the European Space Agency to attend the International Space Training Camp, where teens will train to terraform and colonize Jupiter’s moon Europa for human settlement. California native Naomi Ardalan, a second-generation Iranian-American, has also been chosen for her expertise in science and technology. During a period of violent climate change worldwide, Earth’s governments are desperate to draft teens for a space mission for which they have only a few weeks in which to prepare. Twenty-four teen finalists, many orphaned by cataclysmic natural disasters, have been chosen from all over the world to compete for this space colonization mission. Warnings come to Leo and Naomi that there is a more sinister aspect to this mission, especially after things go tragically awry with other candidates during the training. The relationship that develops between Naomi and Leo feels forced, as if their meeting necessitates speedy deployment of a romantic cliché. The use of predictable plot devices, along with the fundamentally ludicrous premise, undermines any believability that would make a reader invest in such an elaborate space journey.
The shelves are already crowded with teens-training-for-space stories; there’s no need to make room for this one. (Science fiction. 14-17)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-265894-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
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