A bold stroll through a fantasy kingdom, featuring a story of young love.
In this debut YA fantasy novel, several teenagers develop special abilities that may connect them to an ancient race of dragon-riders.
On the world of Garthania, Tomma and Estar are married members of a community that travels the countryside selling crafted goods. One night, they find three babies abandoned beneath their wagon. The couple decides to watch the children, hoping that whoever left them will return. Almost 15 years later, the three foundlings are still with the travelers: Alaya, Kayla, and Lakhale. Alaya considers Lakhale to be her best friend and betrothed, while Kayla is like a younger sister to both. They all possess the ability to share words and pictures through a telepathic mind-link, but they keep it their secret because magic is considered evil by the surrounding villages. One day, Alaya goes exploring in the forbidden Tamlayan Forest and finds a giant toadstool among huge trees, as well as an enticing cavern. Later, she brings Lakhale back to the “green wonderland,” and they enter the cave. Within, Lakhale is gravely injured—but once they’re back among the travelers, his body miraculously heals. Eventually, the teens learn that their adoptive community is comprised of Walewai—people who emerged from the Bluefire during the world’s creation, riding magical dragons. In her lavishly realized debut, Winters opens the Bluefire series by focusing on the heady emotions of young love. Bold strokes of fairy-tale imagery paint most scenes, as when “The wind rushed through [Alaya’s] hair, lifting it up to flow behind her like a ribbon of golden honey.” As the narrative proceeds dreamily apace, other special talents (such as “shifting” over great distances) emerge in Kayla and in a community outsider named Samuel. Although the teens prove pivotal to the travelers’ survival after word of the magic spreads, much of the novel deals with romantic interludes between Lakhale and Alaya (“Lakhale pressed his lips against her right shoulder, meeting her smooth, exposed skin”). The rousing penultimate chapter, though, brings a transformation that will leave readers pining for more Bluefire.
A bold stroll through a fantasy kingdom, featuring a story of young love.Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-9924037-0-6
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Ironhart Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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