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
Ideal for readers seeking perspectives on war, with a heavy dash of romance and touch of fantasy.
A war between gods plays havoc with mortals and their everyday lives.
In a time of typewriters and steam engines, Iris Winnow awaits word from her older brother, who has enlisted on the side of Enva the Skyward goddess. Alcohol abuse led to her mother’s losing her job, and Iris has dropped out of school and found work utilizing her writing skills at the Oath Gazette. Hiding the stress of her home issues behind a brave face, Iris competes for valuable assignments that may one day earn her the coveted columnist position. Her rival for the job is handsome and wealthy Roman Kitt, whose prose entrances her so much she avoids reading his articles. At home, she writes cathartic letters to her brother, never posting them but instead placing them in her wardrobe, where they vanish overnight. One day Iris receives a reply, which, along with other events, pushes her to make dramatic life decisions. Magic plays a quiet role in this story, and readers may for a time forget there is anything supernatural going on. This is more of a wartime tale of broken families, inspired youths, and higher powers using people as pawns. It flirts with clichéd tropes but also takes some startling turns. Main characters are assumed White; same-sex marriages and gender equality at the warfront appear to be the norm in this world.
Ideal for readers seeking perspectives on war, with a heavy dash of romance and touch of fantasy. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-85743-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
The well-paced romantic tension is a highlight of this enjoyable duology closer.
Even a war driven by gods can’t sever communication between journalist lovers Iris and Roman in this steampunk-adjacent romantic adventure.
A prologue sets the scene: Dacre, a god strummed to sleep by magic in Divine Rivals (2023), will not slumber forever. His willingness to wage war to acquire more powerful magic leads him to lay waste to entire towns, and Inkridden Tribune journalist Iris Winnow and war correspondent Roman Kitt can no longer be assured the other is safe—or even still alive. In Iris’ world of cigarette smoke, copper pipes, and driving goggles, colleagues affectionately call each other by their last names, watch each other’s backs, and face danger on the front lines. Though Underling Correspondent Roman is traveling with Dacre’s army, he questions why he was healed of his grievous wounds, while at the same time, he gradually recovers memories of Iris and recalls that she was special to him. Their magically connected typewriters allow for the rediscovery of their love and for communicating potentially deadly information about the invasion of Hawk Shire. The story primarily unfolds from Iris’ and Roman’s viewpoints, and while the prose occasionally uses well-worn phrases, Anglophiles will particularly enjoy the worldbuilding, and returning readers will welcome appearances from Capt. Keegan Torres; her wife, Marisol; and Dacre’s archnemesis—and wife—the goddess Enva. Main characters present white.
The well-paced romantic tension is a highlight of this enjoyable duology closer. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250857453
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
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