A swashbuckling, Sapphic fantasy on the high seas.
A teen pirate on a quest for vengeance and vindication captains her own ship.
Adrasteia Dantes has spent the better part of a year chasing Cameron, her half brother, after he brutally assaulted their father and absconded with her birthright: a treasure map for the first pirate king’s grave. Fueled by her anger and need for revenge, Adra pushes her mostly female crew to their limits, restrained only by her soft-hearted quartermaster and best friend, Merrin Petra. But when their pursuit leads them to a string of four ships with the entire crew (save one mysterious, beautiful girl) dead under eerie circumstances—“drowned in dry air”—it becomes clear that the magic that once just trickled into this world from beyond the veil is now pouring in. Adra knows all too well the power of magic; she lost part of her arm in her first run-in with it. Torn between protecting her crew and exacting her revenge, Adra strikes a dangerous deal with the Devourer, the very creature they fear. Ames’ prose has moments of brilliance and her characterization of Adra as a complicated anti-hero is well done. However, the underdeveloped and anticlimactic delivery of the backstory will leave readers with an odd sense that this is the middle of a series rather than a stand-alone title. Most characters read white.
A swashbuckling, Sapphic fantasy on the high seas. (map, dramatis personae) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9798890030788
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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