Passionate but patchy in execution.
A British naturalist’s young daughter draws seekers benign and decidedly otherwise in this French import.
In a tale with a powerful premise despite notably ragged execution, Manon, who is mute and described as resembling people with albinism, spends seven years in a convent orphanage in London while both her father’s killer and her mother’s secretive folk search for her. Her name is based on a French pun that is pointed out twice but doesn’t work in English. As Manon’s true nature is gradually revealed through her father’s letters to his great friend Charles Darwin, the pursuit finally comes close enough to send her fleeing into the streets to take refuge with Molly, a bighearted street poet with a loyal and unusually intelligent dog. Readers are likely to feel whipsawed, as the barrage of very short chapters brings frequent changes in scene, point of view, and tone. Several victims are killed and mutilated in gruesomely explicit detail; Molly and even the dog also narrate, sometimes to comical effect. The thoroughly demonized bad guys—who want Manon as a scientific specimen and key to her father’s vast fortune—are pitted against pursuers who, due to parallel evolution, look human(ish) but have very different ancestors and intimate connections with the natural world. Brière-Haquet folds in some topical themes as she steers events to a soaring climax and forced but tidily happy ending. Both the omniscient narration and other characters use demeaning language in reference to Manon’s eyes and skin, and her characterization evokes common disability tropes. Everyone presents as White.
Passionate but patchy in execution. (Eco-fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64614-182-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Levine Querido
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in.
Black is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy.
Jude—broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness—has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others. Fierce and observant Jude is utterly unaware of the currents that swirl around her. She fights, plots, even murders enemies, but she must also navigate her relationship with her complex family (human, Faerie, and mixed). This is a heady blend of Faerie lore, high fantasy, and high school drama, dripping with description that brings the dangerous but tempting world of Faerie to life.
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-31027-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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