A jumble of inconsistent plot, by-the-numbers romance, artless characters, and muddled theme.
The sequel to The Temple of Doubt (2015) further explores the conflict among the god Nihil, the magic-wielding Azwans, and narrator Hadara.
Sixteen-year-old pale, golden-eyed Hadara of Port Sapphire in the world of Kuldor is wondering if she is possessed. Ever since she thwarted the Azwans’ attempt to sacrifice her, she has been able to understand the languages of the lizardlike Gek and the Feroxi, pale-skinned, blue-eyed giants. The Feroxi have been sent to Port Sapphire to put the populace back on track in the pious worship of the god Nihil, whose creed has to do with doubting certainties and being certain of doubts. It’s a fuzzy premise that doesn’t get any clearer because plot and character consistency is a deep and ongoing problem. The amplification of the fledgling romance between Hadara and tawny-skinned, brown-eyed Valeo—a half-human, half-Feroxi guard—is fraught with so many emotional reversals that readers will be forgiven for thinking that they are manufactured solely to conveniently fit themselves into the plot point of the moment. Hadara’s overabundant interior monologues do not add any clarity, instead coming across as contradictory and obtuse. Worldbuilding is trivialized by the characters’ ostentatious habit of taking Nihil’s name in vain, à la “Nihil’s nuts,” “Nihil’s scrawny buttocks,” “Nihil’s knuckles,” etc.
A jumble of inconsistent plot, by-the-numbers romance, artless characters, and muddled theme. (Fantasy. 14-16)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63450-193-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Mafiosa Rosa is rarely likable, but this tough survivor takes control of her own life, determined not to be controlled,...
A shape-shifting Mafia capo insists on romance amid dark family mysteries.
The death of her sister and aunt in Arcadia Awakens (2012) have left Rosa Alcantara the head of a Sicilian Mafia clan. Her love affair with Alessandro, capo of the rival Carnevare family, makes both of them vulnerable to vicious members of their own families. It's bad enough that they lead different Cosa Nostra clans, but their magical abilities are at odds as well. The Alcantaras become giant snakes, while the Carnevares become panthers, leopards and lions. Rosa mostly ignores the family business while she investigates the brutal rape she endured a year and a half before. Her investigations reveal unsettling truths: Nothing in her pre-Mafia past, neither the rape nor the death of her father, is unrelated to Cosa Nostra. Her own family has engaged in heinous crimes against her and the rest of the Mafia. A climactic battle—partially described in a six-page cellphone conversation between Rosa and Alessandro—ties up a few loose ends and leaves the rest for the next volume.
Mafiosa Rosa is rarely likable, but this tough survivor takes control of her own life, determined not to be controlled, assaulted, lied to or—quite literally—devoured . (Paranormal romance. 14-16)Pub Date: Feb. 12, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-200608-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2013
Readers who relish self-indulgent inner monologue and expect dramatic arguments, seething resentment, tearful heartbreak,...
A “good girl” experiences an unplanned pregnancy and its aftermath.
Evelyn is a classic good girl, earning top grades and excelling in the art studio as well as on the track. When her parents start paying more attention to their acrimoniously crumbling marriage than to their daughter, she punishes them by becoming drinking, drugging, sex-having Bad Evelyn. Unfortunately, Bad Evelyn’s exploits become a punishment for her, too, as her protection-free sex with Todd leads to an unplanned pregnancy. Evelyn’s situation is the stuff of classic YA problem novels: What will she do about her pregnancy? How will she live with her choices? Will her heart, in fact, go on? Fearing expulsion from her competitive and deeply conservative Catholic high school, Evelyn relocates to Chicago to live with her aunts Linda and Nora and their daughters while she makes her choices and protects her GPA. Evelyn is a tough nut to crack, and she’s not particularly likable, but through all her self-contradictory crabbiness and emotionally withholding fears, readers may see someone recognizably real. First-time author Carter drags her narrative out, making readers angst along with Evelyn as she chronicles every week of her pregnancy and beyond.
Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-59990-958-5
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
