An entertaining time-traveling tale with a spirited hero.
A 17-year-old girl attends a school for unusual thieves in this YA novel.
NatashaClarke was once a popular, star student. But she barely makes it through school these days, working overtime to help her mom make ends meet after her father’s disappearance years ago. When her new friend Elodie Blue invites her to ditch school one day, Natasha jumps at the chance, not knowing her life is about to change forever. She wakes up the next day to find herself accused of a crime she has no memory of committing and an invitation to join Gray Wolf Academy, a private boarding school in a remote location, run by the reclusive tech trillionaire Arthur Blackstone. Given no choice, Natasha joins the ranks of the academy, where she discovers that she is about to start a career as a time-traveling thief. Tripping into the past to steal artifacts and treasures, Natasha learns that Arthur has a secret mission that he expects her to fulfill. Her faint memories of time spent with her father may have something to do with the covert operation. If navigating the waters of the past were not complicated enough, Natasha also must contend with potentially untrustworthy schoolmates, her broken relationship with Elodie, and her growing feelings for Braxton, the boy who recruited her for the academy. Noël’s series opener is a fast-paced tale full of puzzles, secrets, and adventures through time, featuring a strong-willed protagonist, an exploration of ethics, and a healthy dose of romance. But characters’ reactions to some of the story’s events are perplexing: People disappear in time, and no one seems to care; Natasha’s mom signs away her daughter’s life to a mysterious school that doesn’t even have a website; and the protagonist often displays a blasé attitude in enigmatic conversations with classmates. The time-traveling element is fun but its mechanism is barely explained in what is decidedly a tale that’s more fantasy than SF. Still, the novel is engaging, with the potential for more character and story development in the sequel.
An entertaining time-traveling tale with a spirited hero. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: June 28, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64937-150-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
A dark and gripping feminist tale.
A young woman faces her past to discover the truth about one of her nation’s heroes.
When Effy Sayre, the only female architecture student at her university in Llyr, wins the competition to design Hiraeth Manor for the estate of the late Emrys Myrddin, national literary figure and her favorite author, it is the perfect opportunity to leave behind a recent trauma. She arrives to find the cliffside estate is literally crumbling into the ocean, and she quickly realizes things may not be as they seem. Preston, an arrogant literature student, is also working at the estate, gathering materials for the university’s archives and questioning everything Effy knows about Myrddin. When Preston offers to include her name on his thesis—which may allow her to pursue the dream of studying literature that was frustrated by the university’s refusal to admit women literature students—Effy agrees to help him. He’s on a quest for answers about the source of Myrddin’s most famous work, Angharad, a romance about a cruel Fairy King who marries a mortal woman. Meanwhile, Myrddin’s son has secrets of his own. Preston and Effy start to suspect that Myrddin’s fairy tales may hold more truth than they realize. The Welsh-inspired setting is impressively atmospheric, and while some of the mythology ends up feeling extraneous, the worldbuilding is immersive and thoughtfully addresses misogyny and its effects on how history is written. Main characters are cued white.
A dark and gripping feminist tale. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780063211506
Page Count: 384
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
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