An engaging installment of a complicated SF/fantasy series about a besieged writer.
A teenage aspiring fantasy author teleported to the dystopic star system of her own fiction tries to protect her friends and elude pursuit by destructive forces, including a frighteningly corrupted superhero.
Portman continues the Coseema Saga, a YA epic fantasy/SF series that began with The Twin Stars (2021), featuring a teen writer haplessly lost in the far-out fictional universe of her imagination. Olive Joshi, 16, is trapped in an exotic star system she conceived in her notebook, an abandoned storytelling effort. It is nightmarish, an unstable arrangement of dying dual suns throwing solar flares on the planet Lyria, where “a brutal tyrant” named Burnash is the main villain—until the resurrection of his sister, Coseema. Originally a superpowered figure of virtue and strength (faintly resembling the self-doubting Olive), Coseema returned from her death/defeat a vengeful, sadistic, bat-winged fiend who covets limitless power that she may achieve by obtaining her creator’s notebook. After her narrow escape from Coseema, Olive has the notebook, but the superhero has the matching custom pen for writing in it. Now, as Coseema and Burnash viciously search Lyria for the Earth girl, Olive and her allies escape via spaceship to outer planets in the system, where an escape space-ark craft, the Wave-Rider, may remain as a last resort for Lyrians. The odyssey brings Olive and her friends (whom, don’t forget, she originally wrote, and for whom she feels tremendous, guilty responsibility) to new revelations and surprising and shocking reunions. Meanwhile, descriptions and narratives in Olive’s notebook continue to appear. But written by whom? The story’s ambiance is a blend of science and sword-and-sorcery magic, and often it is difficult to get a sense of the ground rules at work. But then again, one could argue this is exactly the dilemma that would be faced in a tyro effort from a novice author coming to grips with her inner Neil Gaiman, with half-formed characters and sketchy conceits taking on lives of their own. This sequel does suffer from middle-chapter syndrome, with interconnected ensemble characters whose entrances and exits and backstories are hard to trace without a chart. But by the ending, readers should be sufficiently hooked to follow the vivid, ominous threads into the next volume.
An engaging installment of a complicated SF/fantasy series about a besieged writer.Pub Date: May 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-9959204-6-0
Page Count: 342
Publisher: TITAN1STUDIOS
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning.
Two teens train to be society-sanctioned killers in an otherwise immortal world.
On post-mortal Earth, humans live long (if not particularly passionate) lives without fear of disease, aging, or accidents. Operating independently of the governing AI (called the Thunderhead since it evolved from the cloud), scythes rely on 10 commandments, quotas, and their own moral codes to glean the population. After challenging Hon. Scythe Faraday, 16-year-olds Rowan Damisch and Citra Terranova reluctantly become his apprentices. Subjected to killcraft training, exposed to numerous executions, and discouraged from becoming allies or lovers, the two find themselves engaged in a fatal competition but equally determined to fight corruption and cruelty. The vivid and often violent action unfolds slowly, anchored in complex worldbuilding and propelled by political machinations and existential musings. Scythes’ journal entries accompany Rowan’s and Citra’s dual and dueling narratives, revealing both personal struggles and societal problems. The futuristic post–2042 MidMerican world is both dystopia and utopia, free of fear, unexpected death, and blatant racism—multiracial main characters discuss their diverse ethnic percentages rather than purity—but also lacking creativity, emotion, and purpose. Elegant and elegiac, brooding but imbued with gallows humor, Shusterman’s dark tale thrusts realistic, likable teens into a surreal situation and raises deep philosophic questions.
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning. (Science fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4424-7242-6
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and...
A deliciously creepy page-turning gem from first-time writer and illustrator Brosgol finds brooding teenager Anya trying to escape the past—both her own and the ghost haunting her.
Anya feels out of place at her preppy private school; embarrassed by her Russian heritage, she has worked hard to lose her accent and to look more like everyone else. After a particularly frustrating morning at the bus stop, Anya storms off, only to accidentally fall down a well. Down in the dark hole, she meets Emily, a ghost who claims to be a murder victim trapped down in the dank abyss for 90 years. With Emily’s help, Anya manages to escape, though once free, she learns that Emily has traveled out with her. At first, Emily seems like the perfect friend; however, once her motives become clear, Anya learns that “perfect” may only be an illusion. A moodily atmospheric spectrum of grays washes over the clean, tidy panels, setting a distinct stage before the first words appear. Brosgol’s tight storytelling invokes the chilling feeling of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline (2002), though for a decidedly older set.
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and outward appearance. (Graphic supernatural fiction. 12 & up)Pub Date: June 7, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59643-552-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
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