A thoughtful and sensitive exploration of corrupt powers and personal responsibility, especially in today’s stormy political...
In Duncan’s dystopian novel, the United States is run by agribusinesses that control all food production.
Seventeen-year-old Tempest doesn’t know much beyond the AgraStar farm where she lives and works as a guard. Her main priority is keeping lazy scavengers, people who live outside of the system, away from the crops. This all changes when a raid goes wrong and a group of scavengers accidentally sets off a blight that kills all plants and humans in its path. Before her farm is completely destroyed, Tempest manages to get her hands on blight-resistant seeds. As the blight continues to spread, she must get the seeds to AgraStar’s headquarters in Atlanta. Necessity leads Tempest to travel with Alder, a scavenger who’s determined not to let the seeds fall into AgraStar’s hands. Duncan’s knack for character development shines through as Tempest is steadily exposed to the darker side of AgraStar and begins to question everything she’s been taught and her place in it. Though well-paced and intelligently written, the novel stumbles when Tempest makes a startling discovery in Atlanta that is never resolved before the story ends abruptly—readers will hope the flap-copy statement that this is a stand-alone isn’t really telling the truth. Tempest is a brown-skinned Latina, but in this society, she’s not able to really explore her heritage—a poignant subplot.
A thoughtful and sensitive exploration of corrupt powers and personal responsibility, especially in today’s stormy political climate. (Science fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-239699-0
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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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