A shrewd, absorbing fantasy showcasing extraordinary characters worth rooting for.
A teenager harboring potential magical powers vows to confront the red-eyed stranger who’s been haunting her in this debut YA novel.
Nyla’s unusual silver hair and purple eyes are indicative of someone with magical abilities. But she has none, her hair and eyes having changed colors after a fatal fire took her family two years ago. In fact, her home country of Tenebris somehow lost most of its magic centuries before. But there is a legendary waterfall that reputedly grants desires, and Nyla braves the treacherous Shadow Forest to find it and its good fortune. Along the way, she meets Xander, a fellow teen without a family. Their run-in with a hideous ogre in the forest—and its apparent, inexplicable death—leads both teens to suspect that Nyla has magical powers that she’s unaware of. Moreover, a man with scarlet-colored eyes and a crystal ball seizes her lucid dream-visions and seems intent on killing her. Answers regarding her magic’s source and this enigmatic villain may lie on the other side of Tenebris—in a creepy, abandoned manor from Nyla’s childhood. Shaffery wisely zeroes in on the sublime cast in this fantasy series opener. While individual backstories and the sinister presence targeting Nyla gradually come to light, the growing relationships truly drive the engrossing story. Nyla and Xander display genial natures that will quickly earn readers’ sympathies. Even when they annoy each other or occasionally fight, the two remain warmhearted, with Xander “just maybe a bit overconcerned” with Nyla’s well-being. They later team up with a supernatural ally whom they don’t immediately trust and spot other fantastical beings as well, including a fire-spitting “nocturnal creature” with “charcoal eyes” called a pyrosa. Though the memorable ending leaves paths for the sequel, this introductory tale illuminates much of the unraveling mystery and skillfully explores a fair amount of Tenebris’ relatively compact landscape.
A shrewd, absorbing fantasy showcasing extraordinary characters worth rooting for.Pub Date: June 3, 2022
ISBN: 9798986173207
Page Count: 420
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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