Readers won’t have to work to resist the lure of this siren song.
What’s the best news about the fourth and final installment of the Watersong series? It’s finally over.
Even readers who have slogged their way through the first three novels with the hope of a climactic—or at least satisfying—finish will likely find themselves longing to reclaim the hours of their lives they’ve lost in pursuit of this convoluted and disappointing conclusion. Once again, the bulk of the novel centers around 16-year-old siren Gemma and her sister Harper’s quest to break the curse that holds Gemma hostage before her evil siren sister Penn can find a suitable replacement and kill the troublesome Fisher sisters once and for all. Unfortunately, what should be a thrilling race against the clock is just a frustrating, meandering journey that’s cluttered with unnecessary characters of both the human and supernatural varieties. While Penn’s lust for Harper’s boyfriend and a volatile and power-hungry new siren add moments of interest, they offer little relief for readers trying to make sense of all the book’s disparate, moving parts. Characters such as the girls’ mother, Nathalie, archaeology professor Kipling Pine and the muse Thalia are oft referred to but rarely seen, and their presence winds up being just another frustration in the already difficult-to-navigate siren sea.
Readers won’t have to work to resist the lure of this siren song. (Paranormal romance. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-250-00567-0
Page Count: 560
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2013
A contemplative exploration of faith, love, and the human condition.
Though intending to grow closer in their devotions, Adam Chen’s and Zayneb Malik’s insecurities and the fractures in their relationship are amplified in this follow-up to Love From A to Z (2019).
Islamically married but living apart—Adam’s in Doha and Zayneb’s in Chicago—the couple meet for short international getaways while Zayneb finishes law school. They’re both hiding internal stressors: Adam’s art gigs and income have dried up, and Zayneb faces unstable housing, and old scandals linked to the undergraduate Muslim Student Association’s leadership threaten her future in international human rights. Eagerly awaiting a romantic reprieve in an English cottage, Zayneb is disappointed when Adam, who’s in a period of remission from multiple sclerosis, suggests they instead make Umrah, a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. Zayneb is sorely tested when Adam’s old crush is a leader of their Umrah group who seemingly tries to keep the couple apart. The novel’s dual narrative structure references a curated selection of artifacts as it considers faith and emotion in ways that are unapologetically Muslim and entirely human. Adam and Zayneb draw from prophetic examples and Quranic stories to strengthen their faith and interrogate injustices—both Western democracies’ double standards and intragroup oppression. The examinations of their inner selves, vulnerabilities, feelings of self-worth, and growing codependence are religiously framed and skillfully navigated. Rich descriptive details immerse readers in the landscape of Islamic history.
A contemplative exploration of faith, love, and the human condition. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66591-607-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Salaam Reads/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
More about costume than character or story.
Mysterious deaths plague an island dukedom in a loose retelling of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses.”
Annaleigh Thaumas has spent the last few years mourning her mother and several sisters, who died in succession under increasingly eerie circumstances. Her remaining sisters chafe under the lifestyle restrictions of formal mourning on their small, isolated island home, especially their inability to wear pretty clothes and flirt with boys. When their young stepmother persuades their duke father to let them wear bright colors and start dancing again, Annaleigh and her sisters are relieved, especially when a mystical door in the family crypt conveniently transports them to glamorous ballrooms that provide venues to show off their new wardrobes. Annaleigh and her sisters read like interchangeable paper dolls, their painstakingly described gowns, jewels, and shoes the most distinguishing features about them; they spend their time screaming, swooning, and alternately competing for and cowering behind the men in their lives. The island setting is extremely one-note, as if an ocean-themed children’s party became an entire culture, and there is no consistent interior logic to the rules of magic and gods that seem to shift, like the tides and the weather, according to narrative convenience. The writing is self-consciously stiff, and the story reads like a mood board, full of repetitively atmospheric images and scenes but never creating a substantive whole. All characters are white.
More about costume than character or story. (Fairy tale retelling. 14-18)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9848-3192-7
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
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