Despite predictability and second-book syndrome, a generally fast and enjoyable read of interpersonal drama and rescues.
Back on Earth and discontented after the events of Tandem (2013), Sasha returns to Aurora for the boy she left behind.
Sasha can’t stand not knowing whether or not Thomas is well, and after Aurora, Earth just doesn’t feel right anymore. She receives a message that Thomas is alive, investigates her parents’ connection to the alternate worlds and returns. There, she meets a third analog, Selene, the last oracle of a dying world in a different universe. It is prophesied that Selene may save her world, but she needs her two analogs, Sasha and Princess Juliana, to do it. While the addition of Selene (and a handful of others) draws focus away from the characters of the first book, it creates an interesting dynamic for the analogs. Sasha and Selene bond quickly, but their psychic connection to Juliana is weaker because of the tension between her and Sasha. Sasha and Selene must escape the villainous General to find the missing princess and convince her to go save Selene’s world. Meanwhile Juliana, held captive by rebels, is given complexity and a romantic storyline of her own in occasional third-person sections. The exposition’s better consolidated in this outing than before, coming in short bursts, then cutting back to the action, but sometimes feels like infodumps. After a chaotic climax, the ending predictably sets up the next book.
Despite predictability and second-book syndrome, a generally fast and enjoyable read of interpersonal drama and rescues. (Science fantasy. 12 & up)Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-74279-5
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2015
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression.
After surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself.
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself; her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out; her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply; and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her—who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves—Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way "girls who write their pain on their bodies" scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together.
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93471-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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