An enchanting romantic fantasy weaving together history, magic, and inspired resistance.
A teen bandit thrust into leadership of her clan fights for justice, dignity, and restoration of her people’s rights.
Orphaned at birth, adopted, and brought up by the leader of the Shadow Clan, Roshan’s innate healing powers take a back seat to guerilla raids for their survival. One such raid leads to the capture of Prince Navin, a gadabout royal second in line to the throne. The clan hopes to barter his freedom to stop crushing blood tithes and reclaim their land. Atrocities by the governors’ marauding army have turned once-fertile valleys into barren wastelands where villagers face starvation, violence, and displacement. While the prince tries to use his magic to secure his escape, the poverty and desperation he witnesses ignite a spark of awareness alongside growing attraction to his captor. The alternating voices of the prince and the rebel pit the power and corruption of the privileged against the hardship, steely determination, and hope of people fighting for their birthright. The evocative writing reveals a magical world of rugged landscapes, underground caverns, dark magic, political machinations, surprising plot twists, diverse peoples, and deeply seated prejudices that reflect contemporary times. While the quest for resolution takes a slightly naïve turn, the historical inspirations of real-life bandits and Indian and Persian mythology create a spellbinding fantasy.
An enchanting romantic fantasy weaving together history, magic, and inspired resistance. (glossary, author’s note) (Fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: May 23, 2023
ISBN: 9780374389116
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
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
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
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