A thrilling and worthy #MeToo story with frightening monsters of all kinds.
The world is being ravaged by scrabs, ferocious monsters who target highly populated areas in order to kill humans.
The U.S. has closed its borders and turned a blind eye toward Asia and Europe, where the scrabs are most rampant. Meanwhile, Clara Rivera Pratt has been fighting her whole life against another terrifying monster: her abusive father. Feeling hopeless about graduating high school, she’s failed two classes but excels at combat. When Grayson St. John, wealthy heir of a weapons company, puts out an international call for a fight squad to help defeat scrabs abroad, Clara responds to the call and escapes her home for the first time, joining an ethnically diverse team of American teenagers from different socio-economic backgrounds. It may be a death sentence, but staying put will surely lead only to an even worse outcome. She is a steely, sarcastic survivor readers will cheer for as she battles scrabs and also faces the deep wounds left by her father’s abuse. What appears to be a dystopian science-fiction adventure turns out fundamentally to be about a young woman’s emotional path to transcendence over the cycle of abuse. Tintera gracefully balances heart-pounding action with compelling connections between Clara and her teammates, all told through snappy dialogue and prose. Clara is biracial, with a Mexican immigrant mother and white American father.
A thrilling and worthy #MeToo story with frightening monsters of all kinds. (Science fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-358-01240-5
Page Count: 464
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in.
Black is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy.
Jude—broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness—has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others. Fierce and observant Jude is utterly unaware of the currents that swirl around her. She fights, plots, even murders enemies, but she must also navigate her relationship with her complex family (human, Faerie, and mixed). This is a heady blend of Faerie lore, high fantasy, and high school drama, dripping with description that brings the dangerous but tempting world of Faerie to life.
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-31027-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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