Charming and humorous but for the shopworn depictions of exotic foreigners
Though her family's come down in the world, one apprentice alchemist must save the princess—and the kingdom.
It's the 21st century in the kingdom of Nova, an analog England with both computer engineers and alchemists. Samantha Kemi's family had once been Nova's most renowned alchemists, but now it's all synthetic potions and megapharmacies. Modern alchemy is dominated by the superrich Asters, the Kemis' enemies—though gorgeous Zain Aster is quite friendly. Perhaps he's smitten with Samantha, though the gossip rags believe Zain adores Princess Evelyn. The princess (whose thoughts burst into Sam's first-person narrative as interludes) prepares a forbidden love potion to make sure of him, with results both hilarious and dire. All the best Novaen alchemists race to find the ingredients for Evelyn's cure, while a thinly drawn and cackling villain aims to defeat all the competitors. Sam, superbly talented at potions, finds each ingredient by traveling to a series of dodgy stereotypes: Bharat, where a voiceless woman in a sari serves curry and "exotic-looking fruit"; the mountains of the abominables, where Sam and her companions get their "very own Sherpa"; and dry, poor Zambi, where she bribes a corrupt guard while avoiding crocs and lions. Throughout her quest, Sam's constant awareness of alchemical principles is lovely, adding flavor to balance all the flat characters.
Charming and humorous but for the shopworn depictions of exotic foreigners . (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4814-4378-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes
A gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.
Fifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting—plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers—escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel.
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes . (Science fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25675-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK TO SCREEN
Stands out neither as a folk-tale retelling, a coming-of-age story, nor a Holocaust novel.
A Holocaust tale with a thin “Hansel and Gretel” veneer from the author of The Devil’s Arithmetic (1988).
Chaim and Gittel, 14-year-old twins, live with their parents in the Lodz ghetto, forced from their comfortable country home by the Nazis. The siblings are close, sharing a sign-based twin language; Chaim stutters and communicates primarily with his sister. Though slowly starving, they make the best of things with their beloved parents, although it’s more difficult once they must share their tiny flat with an unpleasant interfaith couple and their Mischling (half-Jewish) children. When the family hears of their impending “wedding invitation”—the ghetto idiom for a forthcoming order for transport—they plan a dangerous escape. Their journey is difficult, and one by one, the adults vanish. Ultimately the children end up in a fictional child labor camp, making ammunition for the German war effort. Their story effectively evokes the dehumanizing nature of unremitting silence. Nevertheless, the dense, distancing narrative (told in a third-person contemporaneous narration focused through Chaim with interspersed snippets from Gittel’s several-decades-later perspective) has several consistency problems, mostly regarding the relative religiosity of this nominally secular family. One theme seems to be frustration with those who didn’t fight back against overwhelming odds, which makes for a confusing judgment on the suffering child protagonists.
Stands out neither as a folk-tale retelling, a coming-of-age story, nor a Holocaust novel. (author’s note) (Historical fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-399-25778-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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