A teen drama distractingly styled after social media–speak that’s bookended by incomprehensible cosmic complications.
Cosmic missions turn into a series of typical coming-of-age dramas in Myers’ novel, written in language intended to emulate that of today’s teens.
Outside of time and space is the Ethereal Universe, described by Myers as “a 24/7 kaleidoscope explosion, like your favorite EDM festival but on galactic steroids.” There, the Mental Beings Falin and Xin are trying to free brethren stuck in the Physical Universe, but a burst of energy separates them. As Falin floats through existence, he locks onto a planet called Naratu, which is either Earth under a different name or a planet exactly like it. He attaches himself to a newborn baby named Daniel and watches quietly as the child grows up. In school, Daniel shows prodigious powers that allow him to draw entire star systems by hand, “head down, pencil flying like a galaxy-brain Picasso,” but his incredible brainpower alienates him from other kids. Daniel struggles to fit in as he moves through different grades, and he eventually musters the courage to ask out his big crush, Alice, but this does not go well. Readers jump through time to see Daniel in the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades as he gains confidence and friends. His celestial powers remain mostly dormant, except for a few guiding messages from Falin and some out-of-this-world coding prowess. After high school, Daniel and his pals face personal crises while trying to make a living in the big city, while a larger existential crisis brews around them: the Mental Being Thron has slowly built an empire on Naratu. Why did Thron stay on the planet? “Bruh, because Thron’s out here straight-up body-hopping through the local wildlife,” explains the narrator. Naturally, Xin thinks that “Bro has lost the plot,” but can she and Falin accomplish their new mission?
Myers’ central conceit of ethereal beings trapped in the bodies of today’s social media–obsessed youth is a fun idea that calls to mind 1980s B-movies, such as Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure or My Stepmother Is an Alien. However, the unwieldiness of the plot quickly saps it of any enjoyment, as the cosmic beingsstep aside to make way for a parade of indistinguishable teens to bicker and fret about their crushes. There’s no clear throughline to Daniel’s story; he experiences typical adolescent feelings for several years, and then a random intergalactic showdown comes crashing into Earth—if it isEarth. What makes the novel confounding, however, is the author’s decision to write it entirely in “Gen-Z language,” stuffing seemingly every sentence with bothersome buzzwords and phrases such as vibes, grind, or “main character energy.” Characters are confused “like a buffering Wi-Fi signal,” shocked like “a plot twist in a Netflix series,” or focused “like [they are] tuned into a podcast.” Myers’ intention with all this never feels clear: If he’s satirizing the young generation, why do so for the entire book? It’s difficult to imagine that it will make young readers connect with it better, and older readers will probably disconnect early.
A teen drama distractingly styled after social media–speak that’s bookended by incomprehensible cosmic complications.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2025
ISBN: 9798306691909
Page Count: 270
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Suspenseful and snarky with surprising emotional depths.
This debut novel, the first of a projected trilogy, blends science fiction, fantasy, gothic chiller, and classic house-party mystery.
Gideon Nav, a foundling of mysterious antecedents, was not so much adopted as indentured by the Ninth House, a nearly extinct noble necromantic house. Trained to fight, she wants nothing more than to leave the place where everyone despises her and join the Cohort, the imperial military. But after her most recent escape attempt fails, she finally gets the opportunity to depart the planet. The heir and secret ruler of the Ninth House, the ruthless and prodigiously talented bone adept Harrowhark Nonagesimus, chooses Gideon to serve her as cavalier primary, a sworn bodyguard and aide de camp, when the undying Emperor summons Harrow to compete for a position as a Lyctor, an elite, near-immortal adviser. The decaying Canaan House on the planet of the absent Emperor holds dark secrets and deadly puzzles as well as a cheerfully enigmatic priest who provides only scant details about the nature of the competition...and at least one person dedicated to brutally slaughtering the competitors. Unsure of how to mix with the necromancers and cavaliers from the other Houses, Gideon must decide whom among them she can trust—and her doubts include her own necromancer, Harrow, whom she’s loathed since childhood. This intriguing genre stew works surprisingly well. The limited locations and narrow focus mean that the author doesn’t really have to explain how people not directly attached to a necromantic House or the military actually conduct daily life in the Empire; hopefully future installments will open up the author’s creative universe a bit more. The most interesting aspect of the novel turns out to be the prickly but intimate relationship between Gideon and Harrow, bound together by what appears at first to be simple hatred. But the challenges of Canaan House expose other layers, beginning with a peculiar but compelling mutual loyalty and continuing on to other, more complex feelings, ties, and shared fraught experiences.
Suspenseful and snarky with surprising emotional depths.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-31319-5
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A huge, churning, relentlessly entertaining melodrama buoyed by confidence that human values will prevail.
A rare, rattling space opera—first of a trilogy, or series, from Corey (aka Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck).
Humanity colonized the solar system out as far as Neptune but then exploration stagnated. Straight-arrow Jim Holden is XO of an ice-hauler swinging between the rings of Saturn and the mining stations of the Belt, the scattered ring of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. His ship's captain, responding to a distress beacon, orders Holden and a shuttle crew to investigate what proves to be a derelict. Holden realizes it's some sort of trap, but an immensely powerful, stealthed warship destroys the ice-hauler, leaving Holden and the shuttle crew the sole survivors. This unthinkable act swiftly brings Earth, with its huge swarms of ships, Mars with its less numerous but modern and powerful navy, and the essentially defenseless Belt to the brink of war. Meanwhile, on the asteroid Ceres, cynical, hard-drinking detective Miller—we don't find out he has other names until the last few pages—receives orders to track down and "rescue"—i.e. kidnap—a girl, Julie Mao, who rebelled against her rich Earth family and built an independent life for herself in the Belt. Julie is nowhere to be found but, as the fighting escalates, Miller discovers that Julie's father knew beforehand that hostilities would occur. Now obsessed, Miller continues to investigate even when he loses his job—and the trail leads towards Holden, the derelict, and what might prove to be a horrifying biological experiment. No great depth of character here, but the adherence to known physical laws—no spaceships zooming around like airplanes—makes the action all the more visceral. And where Corey really excels is in conveying the horror and stupidity of interplanetary war, the sheer vast emptiness of space and the amorality of huge corporations.
A huge, churning, relentlessly entertaining melodrama buoyed by confidence that human values will prevail.Pub Date: June 15, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-316-12908-4
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Orbit/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2011
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