Filled with magical intrigue but ultimately casts an uneven spell.
An unlikely trio attempt to break a ruinous family curse in this fantasy debut.
Rising senior Penny Emberly keeps a low profile in her hometown of Idlewood, Indiana. She’s content with focusing on her mom, Anita, her best friend, and her cafe job. But everything changes when Anita has an accident that leaves her in a coma. Penny’s former crush, Corey Barrion, confesses that he believes her mother to be a victim of his family curse: Anyone a Barrion falls in love with will die—and his aunt has fallen for Anita. The curse is the fault of the Barrions’ rivals, the De Luca family; it seems that the rumors that they’re witches are true. Penny confronts “violent, volatile” Alonso De Luca, a striking goth classmate, and he eventually agrees to help find a way to break the curse. Thrown together, the three teens encounter setbacks as time runs out for Anita, and an ominous shadow figure appears. The third-person narration rotates among the three leads’ perspectives. Penny’s and Alonso’s characterizations ring true, but biracial Corey remains two-dimensional despite his family’s interesting dynamics—his mother is Cameroonian in an otherwise mostly white family (Penny and Alonso are cued white). Villaire does a good job with the magical lore, and the cliffhanger ending successfully sets up for a sequel, but a love triangle storyline feels extraneous, and some dialogue falls flat.
Filled with magical intrigue but ultimately casts an uneven spell. (family tree) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780316574945
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
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
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
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