A striking and expressive debut.
In Saltview, a town encircled by a swamp, a 16-year-old girl hunts down a carnivorous monster.
For generations, members of Lili’s family have been delegated as the Town Council’s hunters, tasked with killing the monster that slowly eats away at the adults in the community. Lili’s own father is “riddled with holes, / can no longer walk”—and she’s desperate to save him. Thanks to rumors about her family, particularly her deceased mom, Lili is a local outcast, so she’s surprised when 17-year-old Caleb comes to her with a proposition. He’ll help her locate the monster if she can find a way for him to escape before his upcoming birthday, when “the first hole” will appear and he’ll start to be eaten alive. Their alliance turns into an unlikely friendship, and romantic feelings blossom. In Saltview, “to be hungry / is to be / monstrous,” and the deadly swamp is full of tricks, but when Lili learns the truth about the monster, she must decide if what she learns will become her burden or set her free. Written in lyrical free verse, this evocative story bursts and oozes with the life of the swamp’s flora and fauna. The worldbuilding is gradually revealed, and deep feelings—desire, shame, loneliness, and grief—take the spotlight over plot. This lush, cross-genre tale swerves between gnarly body horror and sweet romance while maintaining a thoughtful, emotional core. The minimally described cast presents white.
A striking and expressive debut. (Verse horror. 14-18)Pub Date: May 12, 2026
ISBN: 9798890033901
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Lush, angsty, queer horror.
When the monsters they imagine come to life, two boys fight for their lives—and each other.
Andrew Perrault, who’s from Australia, writes beautiful, macabre fairy tales. His roommate at his American boarding school, Wickwood Academy, is talented artist Thomas Rye, who brings his stories to vivid life in paint and charcoal. Andrew’s twin sister, Dove, is all but ignoring him, so he has plenty of time to focus on Thomas’ increasingly odd behavior. Thomas’ parents disappeared just before the new school year started, and Andrew noticed blood on his roommate’s sleeve on their first day back. When he follows Thomas into the forest one night, Andrew discovers him fighting one of the monsters that Thomas has drawn from these stories. The boys soon find themselves coping with vicious bullies by day and fighting monsters by night. At the same time, Andrew struggles to reconcile his feelings for Thomas with his growing awareness of his own asexuality. But when the sinister Antler King breaches Wickwood’s walls, Andrew realizes that he and Thomas may not survive their own creations. This novel, written in rich, extravagant prose, features frank portrayals of disordered eating, self-harm, bullying, and mental illness. Andrew grapples realistically with his sexual identity, and the story has ample genuinely creepy moments with the monsters. Andrew, Thomas, and Dove are white.
Lush, angsty, queer horror. (content warning) (Horror. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781250895660
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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