Readers will find heroines with more gumption, more interesting worlds, and possibly better shoes elsewhere
A high school sophomore from deep space struggles to adjust to her new life on Earth.
Amy lives with her mother and father on a mining colony. When her father loses his job after a fuel-line accident, the three of them are deported to Earth. Amy is desolate over leaving her best friend, Jemmah, behind but departs on the 30-year trip in cryogenic stasis. At her new school in Kokomo City, Amy encounters physical and social challenges. She is weak from the change in gravity and has no classes with anyone her age, and everyone is constantly plugged into the internet via their “net gear” glasses. Meanwhile, a nameless boy is burdened by an invisible darkness, an archaeologist is mysteriously murdered, and a ship full of humans travels toward an enigmatic Artifact. The premise is intriguing, and the art is evocative, especially when it conveys loneliness, disorientation, and melancholy. However, sci-fi fans may be disappointed by a future in which the tech is all too familiar and uninspired by the passive heroine who mopes around in curve-hugging outfits and shoes so pointy that her feet seem nonexistent. Amy is white, but this future is diverse, with multiracial supporting characters (Amy’s “reintegration manager” displays cartoonishly stereotypical Asian features).
Readers will find heroines with more gumption, more interesting worlds, and possibly better shoes elsewhere . (Graphic science fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: July 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-50670-648-1
Page Count: 220
Publisher: Dark Horse
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes
A gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.
Fifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting—plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers—escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel.
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes . (Science fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25675-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK TO SCREEN
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