Only for readers desperately waiting for this trilogy closer
Abbie, William and Simon return to face off against Max, the sole surviving member of the immortality-obsessed Conclave—or so they think….
Now a medical student as well as an aide in an East End hospital, Abbie works hard to put the dreadful events on Orkney behind her (Renegade, 2013). As always, the saintly Simon is by her side, but she remains deeply, contrarily in love with the sullen, churlish William. One night, her dead friend, Mariah, comes to her, eviscerating the maid and terrifying Abbie. Could Mariah be connected to a recent string of grisly murders? And what is Max’s role? Abbie, William and Simon bicker endlessly about strategy as they race to solve the mystery and put the Conclave to rest. Readers will find it baffling that Abbie clings to her animal attraction to William in the face of his childish choler, but cling she does (though she occasionally doubts…). Her stiff, melodramatic narration tells rather than shows as encounters and pseudoscience pile up. Abbie uses her awesome knife-fighting skills against all manner of opponents living and dead with remarkable ease despite extraordinary sleep deprivation and her usually traditional feminine attire. The bizarre, new twist Reeve introduces to the Conclave’s complicated history may well thrill scholars of 19th-century England, but it will also probably leave teen readers underwhelmed.
Only for readers desperately waiting for this trilogy closer . (Paranormal historical fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: April 8, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7387-3877-2
Page Count: 360
Publisher: Flux
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2014
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
A complex story sidelined by a confusingly executed paranormal element.
Four queer teenagers are stuck in an infinite time loop that taps into their collective worst moment.
The question of what really happened to Charlotte Vanderheyden at the Lilies Society’s Founder’s Night initiation lies at the heart of this convoluted mystery, which is told from the perspectives of four Archwell Academy seniors: Rory Archwell, Blythe Harris, Veró Martín, and Drew Simmons. A lockdown drill finds the four teenagers trapped together in a closet and caught in a time loop that forces them to relive the initiation over and over again, even though neither Drew nor Veró are Lilies. Further complicating matters, each one is holding on to secrets of their own. Rory and Blythe, legacy students and former lovers, played key roles at the initiation. Charlotte and Drew (who uses they/them pronouns) were roommates. Veró is an activist who creates radical disruption under the persona of Malcriada, and her most recent artwork portrays Chancellor Archwell (yes, Rory’s mother) as a TERF. The frostiness among the racially diverse group thaws as they band together and discover that they share a common—and disturbing—history. The more they reveal, the closer they get to discovering what really happened to Charlotte—and maybe even other initiates. While the story’s underlying premise importantly confronts generational trauma and repeating patterns, and the explorations of race, queerness, and exclusion are thoughtful, the novel struggles with the tenuous portrayal of time looping.
A complex story sidelined by a confusingly executed paranormal element. (Paranormal mystery. 13-18)Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9780063318199
Page Count: 336
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
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