Considered and focused, this book encourages readers to look inside to help their truths rise.
A 17-year-old magical influencer tries to recover after her life is turned upside down.
With “perfect deep brown skin, big eyes and thick eyelashes,” Naema Bradshaw embodies what it is to be an Eloko: an attractive magical being with the ability to charm people with her melody. After Naema is Stoned, “the thing where you’re consumed by gray rock due to a gorgon’s curse, not the more fun thing where you’re high,” by Effie Freeman, a teenage gorgon under the influence of her best friend Tavia Philips’ siren call, Naema finds her popularity sullied. Some claim that she callously and dangerously outed Tavia as a siren. Frustrated with a lack of empathy at home and concerned about a magical wind that has been whipping through her body since her Stoning, Naema heads to a family reunion in the Southwest to recuperate. In the quiet away from Portland, Oregon, she learns to listen and understand that her Elokoness doesn’t disconnect her from racism or from the responsibility to protect other Black women who are being targeted in her name. The story builds slowly but includes timely humor and deep introspection. Morrow unpacks the ways Black women are exploited and pitted against each other by a society that despises their magic—in all its forms. She brilliantly shows her protagonists learning to communicate and collaborate to rightfully disrupt that same society.
Considered and focused, this book encourages readers to look inside to help their truths rise. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: June 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-31603-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Tor Teen
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
PERSPECTIVES
Raw, delicate, and deeply caring.
When Death-Cast doesn’t call, fate intertwines the lives of two boys, both haunted by their pasts and with futures they can’t escape.
In this third installment of the series that opened with 2017’s They Both Die at the End, Paz Dario waits every night for Death-Cast to call—as it should have for his father nearly 10 years ago, when Paz shot him to save his mother’s life. But the call never comes. Death-Cast killed Paz’s dreams of an acting career: No one will hire him now because the world sees him as a villain. When Paz tries (not for the first time) to put an end to his suffering, an unexpected encounter with Alano Rosa, the heir of Death-Cast, stops him. Both in a place of desperation, Alano and Paz sign a contract to live for Begin Days instead of waiting for their End Days. As suspenseful and emotionally wrenching as the previous titles in the series, this new installment explores heavy themes of abuse, mental health, self-harm, and suicide. Paz grapples with a recent diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Silvera surrounds Alano and Paz with a web of complex relationships. Although the protagonists fall fast for one another and form a deep connection over Alano’s desire to support Paz, Silvera emphasizes the importance of professional help. Both Alano and Paz have Puerto Rican heritage. The cliffhanger ending promises more to come.
Raw, delicate, and deeply caring. (content warning, resources) (Speculative fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780063240858
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2025 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.
