A badass, action-packed, feminist page-turner.
Athena agents discover that the terrorists who attacked a girls school in India are far from fringe—and they have a personal vendetta against one of the agency’s founders.
While in pursuit of the terrorist who burned down a girls school in Pakistan—the catalyst for the founding of the clandestine Athena agency—Jessie, Caitlin, and Hala find that they are too late to stop an attack by extremist organization Family First in Mumbai. Resenting Western cultural influences and what they perceive as the erosion of family values through female education, Family First’s target is personal: a girls school established by Jessie’s mother, Athena co-founder Kit Love. In Mumbai the agents investigate the attackers and Jessie butts heads with (and fights her attraction to) local female detective Riya Kapoor, who is also lesbian. Together they find that Family First’s reach is substantial, involving a prominent politician as well as the military and police in both India and Pakistan. They face great dangers, as their enemies are unafraid to make examples of them. Sarif’s second volume in this woman-centered spy series is as fast-paced and engaging as the first. The ethnically and globally diverse cast of Athena women make prominent appearances, but this volume is much more plot focused than revelatory of individual backstory. White British Jessie continues to confront the universality of patriarchal norms, misogyny, and oppressive treatment of women worldwide.
A badass, action-packed, feminist page-turner. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-284963-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Aug. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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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