Slow-witted, 12-year-old Davey lived with his neglectful and sometimes abusive mother, Lois, and his older sister, Joanne, until Joanne moved out at 17 to get married. She was pregnant at the time, and now Davey baby-sits for her son, Dennis, as Joanne follows in her mother's footsteps. Davey narrates the present, while alternating chapters fill in events from the past about Davey's and Joanne's childhood; how Joanne became Davey's surrogate mother (she was seven, he was two); how she eventually gave up trying to raise him and keep house and joined a gang; how she finally became what she most hated—her mother. Gypsy Davey—as he is nicknamed by his only friend, a drug dealer who is later killed by a rival—finds solace in riding his bike, caring for his nephew, and the occasional visits of his absentee father. But Lynch's (Iceman, p. 146, etc.) story is less about Davey than about the two women in his life and their struggle against each other and themselves. Ultimately, they both lose, and it is Davey who suffers. A grim and penetrating look at the cycle of abuse. (Fiction. 12+)
Pub Date: Oct. 30, 1994
ISBN: 0-06-023586-1
Page Count: 180
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1994
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play.
Garber returns to the world of bestseller Caraval (2017), this time with the focus on younger, more daring sister Donatella.
Valenda, capital of the empire, is host to the second of Legend’s magical games in a single year, and while Scarlett doesn’t want to play again, blonde Tella is eager for a chance to prove herself. She is haunted by the memory of her death in the last game and by the cursed Deck of Destiny she used as a child which foretold her loveless future. Garber has changed many of the rules of her expanding world, which now appears to be infused with magic and evil Fates. Despite a weak plot and ultraviolet prose (“He tasted like exquisite nightmares and stolen dreams, like the wings of fallen angels, and bottles of fresh moonlight.”), this is a tour de force of imagination. Themes of love, betrayal, and the price of magic (and desire) swirl like Caraval’s enchantments, and Dante’s sensuous kisses will thrill readers as much as they do Tella. The convoluted machinations of the Prince of Hearts (one of the Fates), Legend, and even the empress serve as the impetus for Tella’s story and set up future volumes which promise to go bigger. With descriptions focusing primarily on clothing, characters’ ethnicities are often indeterminate.
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play. (glossary) (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-09531-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Eerie and mysterious.
Sixteen-year-old orphaned twin sisters become embroiled with a coven of witches.
When the orphanage’s night matron attacks Ophelia and Serena, white-presenting twins “born on either side of midnight,” Serena’s previously untapped magical powers emerge. She sends a bolt of lightning hurtling toward the night matron. Ultimately the twins must be saved by two witches, who reveal that their adversary was a Dark Witch in disguise. Their rescuers—Sagittarius, who has tawny brown skin, jet black hair, and “almond eyes” and can conjure portals, and Leo, a pale-skinned redhead with the power of telekinesis—are part of a coven based on star signs, with new members born each year. The Twelve are duty-bound to kill Dark Witches. After they’re whisked away from the orphanage, the sisters are introduced to other members of the coven, each named for an astrological sign, including ebony-skinned Taurus, who’s their head witch. Ophelia and Serena are pressured to join as Pisces and Aries in order to help the group assemble the strongest force possible for their inevitable battle against the Dark Twelve, who are led by the world’s highest-ranked witch. This atmospheric, pulse-pounding fantasy of sisterhood and witchcraft initially seems like a classic tale of good versus evil but quickly becomes something much more ambiguous but no less chilling. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to differentiate among the large cast due to some of their personalities being underdeveloped.
Eerie and mysterious. (Fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026
ISBN: 9780063339552
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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