Well drawn characters on a rousing adventure reminiscent of Indiana Jones’ exploits.
In Goode’s YA thriller, a 13-year-old adventurer and her archeologist mother become entangled in a deadly mystery at a remote dig site in the Middle East.
With seventh grade officially concluded, Bostonian teen Isabelle Night is looking forward to summer vacation, when she can do absolutely nothing. But when her mother Annaliese—the head archaeologist for the Massachusetts Arts and Antiquities Museum in Boston and an expert in ancient cultural folklore—is asked to help a friend at a Syrian excavation site, Isabell’s planned “summer of nothing” suddenly becomes anything but. Once at the site, Isabelle and her mother learn that the team, led by Annaliese’s longtime friend and University of Munich archaeology professor Gunther Braun, has uncovered an api—a Well of the Netherworld. (“Only eyes trained in archaeology would have known this had once been a tightly constructed wall. A wall to protect those outside from falling in, or a wall to keep something inside from coming out? Isabelle wondered.”) When dangerous-looking men associated with a secret cabal show up looking for an artifact known as the Queen’s Flute, and people begin disappearing around the sinister hole in the ground, Isabelle and her mother realize, too late, that the well is a portal to another dimension, one inhabited by demons—and that the missing artifact is the only thing that could possibly stop nightmarish creatures from walking the earth. All the elements are here for an unputdownable read—breakneck pacing, nonstop action, and impressive plot twists—but the focus on character development and relationship dynamics is the story’s real strength. Isabelle’s close bond with her mother and her tenuous connection with her deadbeat father, Carmichael (who also works in the archaeology field), lend the narrative emotional depth and authenticity. Isabelle’s budding relationship with Braun’s grandson Will adds a subtle romance element as well.
Well drawn characters on a rousing adventure reminiscent of Indiana Jones’ exploits.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression.
After surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself.
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself; her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out; her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply; and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her—who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves—Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way "girls who write their pain on their bodies" scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together.
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93471-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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