Poufy gowns and corsets in a futuristic setting make for an interesting spin on a perennially popular genre.
In the 22rd century, major corporate executives and their families re-create Versailles, complete with their own King.
Just under 100 years ago, Sonoma Inc. saved the world from starvation but demanded that France hand over its most treasured historical palace. Calling their establishment Sonoman-Versailles, its multicultural executives live there as if it were the Baroque era, but with bots to dress them in their period costumes and with the palace wired into a sophisticated computer system. Danica Grayson lives with her overbearing mother, who blackmails the King into naming Dani as his fiancee after the white 17-year-old sees him strangle a member of the court. Desperate to escape her fate, Dani strikes a deal with a drug dealer who promises her a new life for 5 million euros. To make the money, Dani works with him to sell the titular Glitter. The drug is so addicting that Dani can be sure of ever increasing profits from the courtiers. However, she must work with the dealer’s assistant, a green-eyed man with Asian features to whom Dani feels a compulsive attraction. As the plot thickens, Dani strategizes an escape, but that must wait until the next book. Pike creates an intriguing and imaginative world that mixes the future and the past, with enough suspense to keep pages turning and enough forbidden romance and florid descriptions to satisfy genre conventions.
Poufy gowns and corsets in a futuristic setting make for an interesting spin on a perennially popular genre. (Romantic thriller. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93370-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful.
January 1945: as Russians advance through East Prussia, four teens’ lives converge in hopes of escape.
Returning to the successful formula of her highly lauded debut, Between Shades of Gray (2011), Sepetys combines research (described in extensive backmatter) with well-crafted fiction to bring to life another little-known story: the sinking (from Soviet torpedoes) of the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff. Told in four alternating voices—Lithuanian nurse Joana, Polish Emilia, Prussian forger Florian, and German soldier Alfred—with often contemporary cadences, this stints on neither history nor fiction. The three sympathetic refugees and their motley companions (especially an orphaned boy and an elderly shoemaker) make it clear that while the Gustloff was a German ship full of German civilians and soldiers during World War II, its sinking was still a tragedy. Only Alfred, stationed on the Gustloff, lacks sympathy; almost a caricature, he is self-delusional, unlikable, a Hitler worshiper. As a vehicle for exposition, however, and a reminder of Germany’s role in the war, he serves an invaluable purpose that almost makes up for the mustache-twirling quality of his petty villainy. The inevitability of the ending (including the loss of several characters) doesn’t change its poignancy, and the short chapters and slowly revealed back stories for each character guarantee the pages keep turning.
Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful. (author’s note, research and sources, maps) (Historical fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-16030-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
PROFILES
With a refreshingly original concept, this substantial fantasy, the first in a duology, is an undeniable page-turner
In Tiny Pretty Things co-author Clayton’s solo debut, beauty comes at a price.
On their joint 16th birthday, Camellia and her five sisters are sent out to restore beauty to Orléans, where everybody is born gray and ugly. They’ve been training for this their whole lives. As Belles, the sisters can use their magic to transform the citizens of Orléans from their original states. For the right price, Belles can grant any desired look. When Camellia secures the coveted spot of Her Majesty’s favorite, it seems as if her dreams have come true. As the most powerful, sought-out Belle, she is in charge of the royal family’s looks. However, the princess is insatiable in her quest for beauty and will do anything to get it—even if it means endangering the Belles and the kingdom—and Camellia may be the only one who can stop her. Not only that, but Camellia finds herself slowly uncovering the secrets of the Belles’ origin, and it’s not as pretty as she was taught. With wonderfully descriptive language, Clayton builds a grand and lavish world, carefully chipping away at the veneer to reveal its dark, sinister interior. In a world where anyone can change their skin color as often as they can change their hair color, race is fluid. Camellia is brown, and her sisters are various shades of brown and pale.
With a refreshingly original concept, this substantial fantasy, the first in a duology, is an undeniable page-turner (. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4847-2849-9
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Freeform/Disney
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
SEEN & HEARD
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