A satisfying series-ender.
The engaging final installment in the series that began with Immortal Beloved (2010) reveals new information about the world of the immortals and ties up loose ends.
After running away with her manipulative ex-friend Innocencio against everyone's better judgment, recovering immortal socialite Nastasya has returned to the West Lowing, Mass., rehab center called River's Edge. Although Nastasya's narrative voice is still glib, prickly and often cynical, she has changed since the trilogy's beginning: “I was far gone enough to admit that, yes, I really did need help....more than I needed to be proud, or brave, or cool, or even just not gut-wrenchingly humiliated.” River, the kindly and more-ancient-than-most immortal who runs River's Edge, never gives up on Nastasya, but as her less-trusting siblings begin to arrive from around the world, suspicion about Nastasya's intentions and behavior grows. Meanwhile, Nastasya and fellow immortal Reyn alternately kiss and fight; Nastasya starts a project to revitalize West Lowing's mostly abandoned downtown; and destructive Terävä immortals wage an international war to seize power. As usual, the story's most compelling aspect is Nastasya's emotional growth, aided by River's kind, patient and nonjudgmental tutelage. The sly, slangy narrative voice keeps the story moving, and flashbacks fill in some of the gaps around Nastasya's and other immortals' pasts.
A satisfying series-ender. (Fantasy. 12-18)Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-316-03596-5
Page Count: 460
Publisher: Poppy/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2012
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
Truly fantastic.
This dark fantasy duology opener has a magic school, a death, and five students who find themselves stranded in the wilderness.
Ren Monroe is a promising student wizard at Balmerick, a private school in the city of Kathor. Along with her best friend, Timmons, Ren is one of the few welfare students attending on a scholarship, and despite being one of the most accomplished people at the school, finding a placement in one of the top houses is proving difficult and is a hurdle in the way of the secret mission Ren has set out to accomplish. When a portal spell goes awry and Ren, Timmons, and four other students from different walks of life are thrown together into the Dires, an uncharted land where the last dragons lived, one of them ends up dead and the rest need to learn to work together to make their way back home before they succumb to the harsh environment or the terrifying revenant following them. This may well be the chance Ren was looking for to prove her worth. Placing elements of a locked-room mystery and an original magic system within the familiar trappings of a school for magic, this is a no-holds-barred tale of revenge, atonement, and the pursuit of justice set in a world diverse in skin color and social classes. Ren is a protagonist for the ages: equal parts smart, calculating, and ruthless, forming a lethal package as an avenging angel.
Truly fantastic. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-66591-868-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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