Mackie's nauseated by the scent of blood, is burned by cold iron and would die if he entered a church. None of this helps him avoid notice in his hometown, where close-mouthed neighbors hang horseshoes and leave milk in the garden. No quaint old-world superstitions, these; in the town of Gentry, a child dies mysteriously every seven years. Mackie's been raised to avoid notice, so nobody will recognize him for the changeling his parents and adoring sister know him to be. But with another baby apparently dead and blood and iron all over town, Mackie's having a hard enough time staying upright, let alone under the radar. Soon the sickly boy meets the Morrigan and her court: a mishmash of Celtic mythology with British folklore, elfpunk music and adorable Tim Burton–esque horrors. There's romance and rescue (though mercifully no Edward Cullen types to replace the tale's endearing original couple). Some of the urban-fantasy elements get dropped in the crowd partway through, but enough grotesque goodies remain to keep this a fast-paced, dark delicacy. (Urban fantasy. 12-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-59514-337-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
Sweet, if unremarkable.
A gentle “Sleeping Beauty”–inspired tale of teens training to defend a baby princess.
Fifteen-year-old Miri, beloved stepdaughter of the king, is freshly in love—with her baby sister. As the novel opens, Aurora’s christening looms, and any Disney fan will know what’s coming. However, this is Miri’s story, and pages of first-person description and exposition come before those events. Tirendell, like all kingdoms, has Light and Dark Fae. Dark Fae feed off human misery and sadness, but their desire to cause harm for self-benefit is tempered by the Rules. The Rules state that they can only act against humans under certain conditions, one being that those who have crossed them, for example, by failing to invite them to a royal christening, are fair game. Miri steps up instinctively at the moment of crisis and both deflects the curse and destroys the Dark Fae, which leads to the bulk of the novel: an extended and detailed day-to-day journey with Miri and her five largely indistinguishable new friends as they train in combat and magic to protect Aurora from future threats. With limited action and a minimal plot, this story lacks wide appeal but is notable for the portrait of deep familial love and respect, while the brief, episodic adventures (including talking animals) offer small pleasures. All characters are implied to be White.
Sweet, if unremarkable. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5745-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
Not much forward momentum but a tasty array of chills, thrills, and chortles.
The victory of Jacob and his fellow peculiars over the previous episode’s wights and hollowgasts turns out to be only one move in a larger game as Riggs (Tales of the Peculiar, 2016, etc.) shifts the scene to America.
Reading largely as a setup for a new (if not exactly original) story arc, the tale commences just after Jacob’s timely rescue from his decidedly hostile parents. Following aimless visits back to newly liberated Devil’s Acre and perfunctory normalling lessons for his magically talented friends, Jacob eventually sets out on a road trip to find and recruit Noor, a powerful but imperiled young peculiar of Asian Indian ancestry. Along the way he encounters a semilawless patchwork of peculiar gangs, syndicates, and isolated small communities—many at loggerheads, some in the midst of negotiating a tentative alliance with the Ymbryne Council, but all threatened by the shadowy Organization. The by-now-tangled skein of rivalries, romantic troubles, and family issues continues to ravel amid bursts of savage violence and low comedy (“I had never seen an invisible person throw up before,” Jacob writes, “and it was something I won’t soon forget”). A fresh set of found snapshots serves, as before, to add an eldritch atmosphere to each set of incidents. The cast defaults to white but includes several people of color with active roles.
Not much forward momentum but a tasty array of chills, thrills, and chortles. (Horror/Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7352-3214-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2018
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