An intriguing protagonist makes this novel soar.
A teenage girl’s world gets turned upside down when she discovers her mother’s darkest secret in Bolick’s YA SF novel, the first in a series.
Charlie Conners is a 15-year-old living in a rural Georgia town in 1990. She returns home from school one day to witness her sickly mother, Candy, gun down two male intruders. Unbeknownst to Charlie,Candy used to be the leading sharpshooter on the planet Golvern, but on a trip to Earth, she fell in love with Gregory, a woodworker. When she found out she was pregnant with Charlie, Candy fled Golvern and has been in hiding on Earth ever since. Candy informs Charlie that not only does she have the ability to teleport, but she’s also inherited her mother’s power as a Protector. Candy, who is dying from cancer, begins to train Charlie and convinces her daughter to use her newly honed skills to end her life. A despondent Charlie then leaves home, thinking this will protect her father and younger sister, Lorraine, who has the same powers. She hitches a ride with a college student to the Atlanta airport, which proves to be a big mistake when she’s caught in a showdown with a super-fast murderer; this incident gets her noticed by a federal agency investigating unusual events (“Our organization handles the stranger cases”). Bolick wisely makes her lead character Charlie a blank slate, a teen who has spent her life hidden away in a rural small town. Surprise is Charlie’s go-to emotion, whether in response to Candy’s revelations or fantastic technology—but she’s ultimately revealed to be very intelligent as she learns more about herself and those around her, all of whom are shrouded in mystery, even to each other. That’s also what’s frustrating about this brief book: The series opener introduces many characters and settings, but precious little is developed and next to nothing is concluded. To be fair, that’s the nature of any series—the author has to draw in readers and keep them hanging on. Bolick succeeds magnificently at making Charlie’s complex world oh so enticing.
An intriguing protagonist makes this novel soar.Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2021
ISBN: 9781946089281
Page Count: 357
Publisher: Dirt Road Books
Review Posted Online: May 23, 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
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
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