Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Ordinary youth unearths a mysterious artifact, discovers his secret heritage and becomes the pivotal figure in an epic battle between Good and Evil. The hero this time is Jack Swift, average Ohio teenager, until one day he skips his dose of “heart medication” and nearly kills a classmate. Suddenly sinister dark strangers are in pursuit, and Jack frantically attempts to master a magical sword and his warrior powers, in a centuries-long wizards’ game in which Jack is both pawn and prize. Chima’s writing is graceful, if clichéd, with an acute ear for the rhythms of Midwestern small towns. Jack is a likable fellow, but his confusing muddle of friends, family, allies and enemies are mostly shallow stereotypes issued directly from central casting, each with the requisite Deep Dark Secret awaiting dramatic revelation. While the plot draws heavily on standard fantasy tropes, they are skillfully rendered, building to a predictable but well-scripted showdown and a genuinely unexpected climactic twist. A competent, unexceptionable addition to teen fantasy shelves; the sort of thing you’ll like if you really like that sort of thing. (Fantasy. YA)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7868-3916-3
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2006
This brutal, emotionally charged novel will grip readers and leave them brokenhearted
A minute-by-minute account of mass murder at a high school by a former student.
Four students from a range of different backgrounds at Alabama's Opportunity High, all of whom have a history with Tyler, the gunman, take turns telling this harrowing story in the first person. They include his sister, Autumn, and her clandestine girlfriend, Sylv, who have only each other for solace as the home lives of both are in upheaval. Tomás, Sylv's brother, recounts his and his friend Fareed's desperate efforts to help from outside the school's auditorium, where their fellow students and teachers are locked in with Tyler as he picks them off one by one. Finally, Claire, Tyler's ex-girlfriend, realistically agonizes over what to do when she and a few others outside running track realize that the gunshots they hear are coming from inside the school. Grounded in the present, the story makes effective use of flashbacks that lay bare the pain and deception that have led up to the day's horror. The language can occasionally feel a bit melodramatic, with lines like "we're fighting for hope and a thousand tomorrows," but this is a minor side note to this compelling story of terror, betrayal, and heroism.
This brutal, emotionally charged novel will grip readers and leave them brokenhearted . (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4926-2246-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
A well-crafted, fantastical thriller.
Thirteen guests. Two imposters. Two directives. Three days. One murder.
When a mysterious woman approaches high schoolers Ruby and Wren while they’re working at Ye Olde Falafel Shoppe at the local Renaissance festival, her offer seems too good to be true. Wannabe starlet Wren is thrilled by the intrigue, but sober Ruby is cautious. Their task seems simple: impersonate the woman’s absent granddaughters at a dinner party at the infamous Hegemony Manor in exchange for $2,000 each. But events quickly spiral out of control when the Hegemony family matriarch collapses and the girls are thrown into a game that involves fighting for their lives in a world where nothing is as it seems and secrets and lies abound. This novel offers a compelling take on the classic locked-room mystery. The plot unfolds at a measured pace, and well-developed clues and red herrings keep readers guessing until the very end. Moments of levity and tenderness balance out scenes of high emotional tensions and darkness, and Henning’s command of figurative and situationally informal language is masterful. Although the characters feel a bit flat at times—their innermost thoughts and motivations occasionally obscured by the narrative—and the romances sometimes feel like an afterthought, it’s easy to become invested in their struggles as they come together to unravel the web of truths and lies. Ruby and Wren are cued white; there’s some racial diversity in the supporting cast.
A well-crafted, fantastical thriller. (Supernatural thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9781250841063
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Tor Teen
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
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