Flinn’s fans should enjoy this latest entry, though lovers of serious fantasy may want to look elsewhere for a grimmer and...
A witch, a girl, and a “dwarf” propel this modern retelling of “Snow White.”
Bullied but kind Violet Appel gives herself a magical makeover, becoming beautiful but bitter, the fairest in Florida but still friendless. A few years (and a convenient animal attack) later, she marries Greg Columbo, recent widower and Violet’s long-term obsession, and meets his pale-skinned, dark-haired daughter, Celine. When Violet grows violent, Celine seeks refuge with her new friend, Goose Guzman, hiding in his house with several (but not seven) other little people and his unbelievably sympathetic parents. While Goose provides comic relief, his dwarfism is handled respectfully, highlighting discrimination along with adaptations. When Celine falls ill, Goose—raised on 1980s movies and fantasies featuring dwarves—rides to the rescue, seeking out the Justin Bieber–like Jonah Prince, consoling a television damsel-in-distress, and battling a witch. Goose’s chapters outshine Violet’s and Celine’s; his language is natural and unstilted, he is more complex than sweet Celine or wicked Violet, he struggles to accept the existence of magic and hesitates before doing death-defying stunts. Light-fantasist Flinn (Towering, 2013) hits the major notes of the familiar story while incorporating plenty of pop culture, but she sometimes sets aside logic and character development for Disney-esque drama and clear moral messages.
Flinn’s fans should enjoy this latest entry, though lovers of serious fantasy may want to look elsewhere for a grimmer and subtler retelling. (Fantasy. 12-18)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-213451-6
Page Count: 384
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: April 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2015
Gripping and authentic in the ways it portrays grief and shows how moving forward means having to let go.
After her father dies, a teen drops out of high school, loses her job, and embarks on a four-week journey through the California backcountry.
Everyone in the Bear Creek Community Service program is assigned a nickname as part of starting over with “a blank slate.” No one needs to know your past or whether you’re there by choice or court order. All that matters is the present: working on hiking trail maintenance. For Atlas James, or Maps, as she’s now known, it’s an escape from the poor decisions she’s made since her father’s death from cancer and a tribute to him. One of his dying wishes was to hike the Western Sierra Trail with her—the same one she’ll now be spending the summer working on with Books, Junior, Sugar, and King. Maps is immediately drawn to group leader King, and as secrets are revealed, the two act as magnets, attracting and repelling one another. Maps’ tangible grief is centered as she copes with the loss of the only person who understood her and always had her back. Gradually, as they clear brush, dig drainage, and battle the backcountry and their pasts, a sense of family is forged among the crew. The palpable romantic tension between King and Maps propels this beautifully written story. Junior is coded Black; other major characters read white.
Gripping and authentic in the ways it portrays grief and shows how moving forward means having to let go. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2024
ISBN: 9780063088580
Page Count: 336
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
How can such a hefty tome be un-put-down-able excitement from beginning to end? (glossary) (Fantasy. 14 & up)
This hefty sequel to Six of Crows (2015) brings high-tension conclusions to the many intertwined intrigues of Ketterdam.
It's time for revenge—has been ever since old-before-his-time crook Kaz and his friends were double-crossed by the merchant princes of Ketterdam, an early-industrial Amsterdam-like fantasy city filled to the brim with crime and corruption. Disabled, infuriated, and perpetually scheming Kaz, the light-skinned teen mastermind, coordinates the efforts to rescue Inej. Though Kaz is loath to admit weakness, Inej is his, for he can't bear any harm come to the knife-wielding, brown-skinned Suli acrobat. Their team is rounded out by Wylan, a light-skinned chemist and musician whose merchant father tried to have him murdered and who can't read due to a print disability; Wylan's brown-skinned biracial boyfriend, Jesper, a flirtatious gambler with ADHD; Nina, the pale brunette Grisha witch and recovering addict from Russia-like Ravka; Matthias, Nina's national enemy and great love, a big, white, blond drüskelle warrior from the cold northern lands; and Kuwei, the rescued Shu boy everyone wants to kidnap. Can these kids rescue everyone who needs rescuing in Ketterdam's vile political swamp? This is dark and violent—one notable scene features a parade of teens armed with revolvers, rifles, pistols, explosives, and flash bombs—but gut-wrenchingly genuine. Astonishingly, Bardugo keeps all these balls in the air over the 500-plus pages of narrative.
How can such a hefty tome be un-put-down-able excitement from beginning to end? (glossary) (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-62779-213-4
Page Count: 560
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
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