A short, catchy indie-rock love song of a book with underlying depth.
In this YA novel, a high school teen invokes magic when composing a song to impress a girl and must deal with the unfortunate consequences.
Geoff Smith and his dad have recently relocated from hot, sunny Houston to cold, rainy Portland, Oregon. Not only is the weather difficult to adjust to, but Geoff—a budding guitarist and singer-songwriter—must also cope with the separation from his band mates. The only good thing about the move is his new history classmate, Corinne Shelby. When Corinne challenges Geoff to “write me a song that rhymes something with the word ‘film’”—and promises to take him on a date if he succeeds—his heart soars. But no such rhyming word exists. Luckily for Geoff, his dad is a purveyor of arcane objects and books. Geoff uses one of the volumes to conjure an unstoppably catchy tune—one with so relentless an earworm that Corinne won’t care that its rhyming word (GILM!) is invented. The song sweeps through Alder High, turning Geoff into an overnight celebrity. But there are two problems: First, the boy who has been bullying the musician turns out to be Corinne’s brother, Will, and warns Geoff off their date. Second, the GILM! song is subverting people’s vocabularies and replacing words until much of their communication is just monosyllabic variations. With the spell soon set to become irreversible, will Geoff be able to quickly undo the magical damage he’s unleashed? Corley writes from Geoff’s perspective, primarily in the third person, past tense. Geoff is a relatable teen character, given to much self-doubt and overthinking. Indeed, the investigation of his imposter syndrome is one of the book’s strongest features. Throughout, the prose remains clear and assured. The story moves quickly, and while engaging readers with its overt speculative and YA elements (wish fulfillment and teen romance), it sneaks in some lovely character dynamics. Geoff’s only-child relationship with his single-parent dad is quite striking, as is the unfolding revelation, through the teen’s eyes, that Corinne is less an unobtainable ideal and more a real person with her own complexities. That Geoff and Corinne’s romantic involvement ultimately proceeds clearly signals that many of life’s complications come from within. All told, tween and teenage readers should approve.
A short, catchy indie-rock love song of a book with underlying depth.Pub Date: Feb. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9798989270811
Page Count: 172
Publisher: Electric Fern
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
A dark and gripping feminist tale.
A young woman faces her past to discover the truth about one of her nation’s heroes.
When Effy Sayre, the only female architecture student at her university in Llyr, wins the competition to design Hiraeth Manor for the estate of the late Emrys Myrddin, national literary figure and her favorite author, it is the perfect opportunity to leave behind a recent trauma. She arrives to find the cliffside estate is literally crumbling into the ocean, and she quickly realizes things may not be as they seem. Preston, an arrogant literature student, is also working at the estate, gathering materials for the university’s archives and questioning everything Effy knows about Myrddin. When Preston offers to include her name on his thesis—which may allow her to pursue the dream of studying literature that was frustrated by the university’s refusal to admit women literature students—Effy agrees to help him. He’s on a quest for answers about the source of Myrddin’s most famous work, Angharad, a romance about a cruel Fairy King who marries a mortal woman. Meanwhile, Myrddin’s son has secrets of his own. Preston and Effy start to suspect that Myrddin’s fairy tales may hold more truth than they realize. The Welsh-inspired setting is impressively atmospheric, and while some of the mythology ends up feeling extraneous, the worldbuilding is immersive and thoughtfully addresses misogyny and its effects on how history is written. Main characters are cued white.
A dark and gripping feminist tale. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780063211506
Page Count: 384
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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