Deep worldbuilding offering little magic to keep the pages turning.
Growing up ignorant of her true parentage, a troll makes it her mission to discover her origins.
Ulla Tulin was abandoned as a baby, left behind by Orra, an Omte troll warrior. Growing up in Iskyla, a frigid village in central Canada, surrounded by Inuit villagers and brown-skinned, good-looking Kanin trolls, tall, pale, sturdily built Ulla stood out. As a teen she ends up in Förening, Minnesota, the Trylle tribe’s capital, where she finds work as a nanny. Though she loves her employers, she yearns for more. An internship in the Mimirin, the troll world’s research and history center in the city of Merellä, means she can research Orra. Immediately, there are hiccups, however: 12-year-old Hanna, one of the children she nannied, stows away, and a runaway with rainbow-colored hair crash-lands on her Jeep. Flirtation blooms between Ulla and fellow researcher Pan as well as with a mysterious stranger she keeps running into. Information about Orra is redacted, and higher-ups in the Mimirin discourage her from digging deeper; the more Ulla learns, the more the mystery expands. Though the world and its lore are impressively expansive, the weight of detailing them often causes Ulla’s journey to drag. A side character’s mysterious past offers more tension than Ulla’s, heralding a much needed but ultimately flat flash of action at the climax. Pan is part Kanin troll and part Inuit.
Deep worldbuilding offering little magic to keep the pages turning. (tribal facts, glossary) (Fantasy. 16-18)Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-20426-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
An overly complex, disorganized work with some mixed handling of diversity.
A futuristic vision of an unsustainable Earth.
A diverse group of four protagonists—Mercy Adams, Van Elder, and siblings TJ and Eddie LeRoux—together bring their varied narrative voices and skill sets to this novel’s world of political intrigue. Due to climate change, Earth is now called Scorch. In response to a fertility crisis, scientists created the praenex, humans who have telepathy, precognition, rapid maturation rates, and the ability to talk directly to the Creator via a sensory organ in their foreheads. Large humans called sapiens coexist with the smaller praenex and rely on them for guidance. Over time, Scorch has become divided into two political factions: Terrans believe that the planet can be healed through science, while Pilgrims, who outnumber them, believe that humans should colonize outer space. Major and minor characters regularly introduce themselves along with their pronouns, although they do this inconsistently and at times repetitively. Descriptions of characters’ skin color are also abundant throughout the text, emphasizing the world’s wide-ranging racial and ethnic groups. Some of the language used seems to undermine the goal of inclusivity, however. The novel’s multitude of storylines create a disorienting reading experience that is intensified by the confusing worldbuilding, poorly handled flashbacks, overuse of opaque dialect, the manner of introducing and defining invented terminology, and switches between multiple points of view.
An overly complex, disorganized work with some mixed handling of diversity. (Science fiction. 16-18)Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2024
ISBN: 9781958051733
Page Count: 388
Publisher: Snowy Wings Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
A visually appealing but shallow romp.
Two boys who are ready to dive into a summer of partying instead find themselves in over their heads, cleaning up a beach polluted by a mysterious toxic sludge.
Leo promises Ben a wild summer full of hunky “unsupervised perverted beach maniacs,” but when they arrive in Port Dorian, the beach is closed. Instead of lifeguarding and partying, they’re stuck cleaning up the rotting sea life littering the shore. One glimpse of a cute boy gives them hope that maybe the hotties are just “hiding away like hermit crabs.” If they can clean up the beach fast enough, maybe they can save their “sexy summer.” However, their summer soon turns from stinky to suspicious when they drag a man with glowing eyes out of the water. The danger escalates when tentacled creatures emerge from the waves and start possessing the locals. The illustrations’ dramatic color palette effectively conveys the atmosphere and foreshadows the shift in tone as the story veers into a supernatural mystery. The art is vivid, dynamic, and emotionally expressive, but the characters as written lack depth and development and are insufficiently differentiated, so the buildup of romantic potential loses wind. Apart from some background characters, most of the cast is depicted with pale or lightly tanned skin. Although the plot moves at a fast pace and has suspenseful appeal, overall the story is underwhelming.
A visually appealing but shallow romp. (character designs, cover gallery) (Graphic fantasy. 16-18)Pub Date: April 22, 2025
ISBN: 9781637156445
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Oni Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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