A boy faces the dark god of the dead as he tries to rescue a missing girl from hell.
Sixteen-year-old Jack Ironwood is a soulshifter, meaning he can walk in the spirit world. He also attends high school, where he overhears Natalie describe how her friend Emma was kidnapped. He convinces Natalie that the monster she thought she saw was real and that he might be able to rescue Emma. The two work together to learn what they can about trips into the dark realm. Jack consults others in his spiritual sect to learn of their experiences, developing a hypothesis that explains why certain people are kidnapped and not others. Finally, after abundant preparation and a few incidents in which Zalnic, the lord of the dark realm, tries to derail their efforts, Jack and Natalie shift bodily into the dark realm in search of Zalnic’s fortress and Emma. But everything does not go according to plan. Pietron takes her time getting to this excitement, using nearly two-thirds of her story to prepare for the journey. Once her characters are in the dark realm, she fabricates an intriguing landscape, but rather than consistently building suspense, she merely manipulates the plot in sudden moves that lead to some action. One-dimensional characters don’t help. No one other than Natalie worries about the missing Emma, who functions only as a prop.
Late excitement can’t save this flat story . (Paranormal suspense. 12-18)Pub Date: Nov. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9916021-2-4
Page Count: 296
Publisher: Scribe
Review Posted Online: Aug. 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
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Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in.
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Black is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy.
Jude—broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness—has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others. Fierce and observant Jude is utterly unaware of the currents that swirl around her. She fights, plots, even murders enemies, but she must also navigate her relationship with her complex family (human, Faerie, and mixed). This is a heady blend of Faerie lore, high fantasy, and high school drama, dripping with description that brings the dangerous but tempting world of Faerie to life.
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-31027-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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A dystopic thriller joins the crowded shelves but doesn't distinguish itself.
Juliette was torn from her home and thrown into an asylum by The Reestablishment, a militaristic regime in control since an environmental catastrophe left society in ruins. Juliette’s journal holds her tortured thoughts in an attempt to repress memories of the horrific act that landed her in a cell. Mysteriously, Juliette’s touch kills. After months of isolation, her captors suddenly give her a cellmate—Adam, a drop-dead gorgeous guy. Adam, it turns out, is immune to her deadly touch. Unfortunately, he’s a soldier under orders from Warner, a power-hungry 19-year-old. But Adam belongs to a resistance movement; he helps Juliette escape to their stronghold, where she finds that she’s not the only one with superhuman abilities. The ending falls flat as the plot devolves into comic-book territory. Fast-paced action scenes convey imminent danger vividly, but there’s little sense of a broader world here. Overreliance on metaphor to express Juliette’s jaw-dropping surprise wears thin: “My mouth is sitting on my kneecaps. My eyebrows are dangling from the ceiling.” For all of her independence and superpowers, Juliette never moves beyond her role as a pawn in someone else’s schemes.
Part cautionary tale, part juicy love story, this will appeal to action and adventure fans who aren't yet sick of the genre. (Science fiction. 12 & up)Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-208548-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
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