Scholte’s stand-alone debut marks her as an author to watch.
A thief is endangered by accidentally acquired regicidal evidence.
Keralie, a top thief working for her childhood friend Mackiel, steals a case of comm chips—technology that holds embedded memories and implants them in another person’s mind—from a messenger. When Varin, the messenger, who has a degenerative eye condition, coerces Keralie into helping him recover them, they run afoul of Mackiel and—as a power play—Keralie ingests the comm chips, receiving memories of Quadara’s queens being assassinated. In each of Quadara’s four quadrants, a queen lives and rules, following strict laws. Other than Keralie’s, the other viewpoints in the book are close third-person following the queens, revealing palace secrets and their grisly ends while they try to find the assassin, interspersed with Varin and Keralie’s efforts to stay alive while figuring out what to do with the information they have. This structure relies on timeline manipulation, which is deftly handled and results in exponential payoffs the deeper into the book the reader gets. The inventive worldbuilding, though occasionally superficial, features vastly different quadrant cultures (e.g., one high tech, one without electricity). The distinctive characters—strong queens and wonderfully flawed Keralie—are as appealing as the murder-mystery plot. Most characters are white like Keralie; Varin has dark hair and tan skin, and two of the queens are dark-skinned.
Scholte’s stand-alone debut marks her as an author to watch. (Fantasy. 13-adult)Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-51392-6
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Nov. 20, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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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