A poignant, gripping conclusion.
The end of Krypton is nigh.
Having cracked Jor-El and Lara’s uber-encrypted data, Sera and Zahn discover the horrific truth: Krypton will soon face its demise. On cue, harsher, stronger quakes start to hit the planet. With his newfound knowledge, Zahn finally breaks free of his upper-caste restrictions. But other plots are afoot. Midnight—the insurgent group led by Gen. Zod—plans to sabotage Krypton’s amniosis grid and bring the reigning tribunes to their knees. Unaware of Krypton’s imminent destruction, Gen. Zod schemes to leverage the deathly chaos stirred by Midnight to shore up power in hopes of promising an unattainable future for the planet. Upon uncovering the extent of Zod’s objective, Sera resolves to disrupt her former commander’s coup efforts even if it may cost her any remaining minutes with Zahn. As Krypton crumbles, Kal-El (“the last son of Krypton”) is finally born. As Jor-El and Lara prepare to secure Kal-El’s future via an escape ship, Zahn scrambles for a way to spare Sera, himself, and their blossoming love from Krypton’s fate. In this trilogy closer, Gray and Zawadzki successfully establish Sera and Zahn as a pair of doomed young lovers thanks to the considerable character development featured in the previous two volumes. The action sequences hit harder as a result, and quieter moments between Zahn and Sera accentuate the unbearable, inevitable end that Kryptonians will confront—apart from Kal-El, of course.
A poignant, gripping conclusion. (Graphic science fiction. 13-17)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781401296094
Page Count: 208
Publisher: DC
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Full of drama, emotional turmoil, and high stakes.
What happens to the world after the dust from a revolution has settled?
Friends Annie and Lee were children from very different circles when Atreus killed Lee’s father, dragonlord Leon Stormscourge, ending the uprising on the bloodiest day in Callipolis’ history. For too long the dragonriders held all the power while their people starved and lived in fear. Nine years later, a new generation of dragonriders is emerging, children selected and trained on merit, not bloodlines. Their dragons are finally mature enough for them to compete for Firstrider, a position of power that can give Lee back a small part of what his family lost. However, not only is Lee competing against Annie, but rumors are circulating that some of the royal family have survived and have dragons of their own. Everyone will have to make a choice: Restore the old regime, support the First Protector and the new caste system he created, or look for a new way, no matter what the cost. From the beginning, this book pulls readers in with political intrigue and action. What keeps them invested, however, are the complex relationships between many cast members. Choices are complex, and the consequences for all could be deadly. The world is well fleshed out and believable. Annie and Lee are light skinned; secondary characters are diverse, and race is a nonissue in this world.
Full of drama, emotional turmoil, and high stakes. (author’s note) (Fantasy.14-17)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-51821-1
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
A glossy repackaging of a jejune tale.
A reissue of the 2016 novel published as Consider.
Alexandra Lucas and her boyfriend, Dominick, are about to start their senior year of high school when 500 vertexes—each one a doorway-shaped “hole into the fabric of the universe”—appear across the world, accompanied by holographic messages communicating news of Earth’s impending doom. The only escape is a one-way trip through the portals to a parallel future Earth. As people leave through the vertexes and the extinction event draws nearer, the world becomes increasingly unfamiliar. A lot has changed in the past several years, including expectations of mental health depictions in young adult literature; Alex’s struggle with anxiety and reliance on Ativan, which she calls her “little white savior” while initially discounting therapy as an intervention, make for a trite after-school special–level treatment of a complex situation; a short stint of effective therapy does finally occur but is so limited in duration that it contributes to the oversimplification of the topic. Alex also has unresolved issues with her Gulf War veteran father (who possibly grapples with PTSD). The slow pace of the plot as it depicts a crumbling society, along with stilted writing and insubstantial secondary characterization, limits the appeal of such a small-scale, personal story. Characters are minimally described and largely racially ambiguous; Alex has golden skin and curly brown hair.
A glossy repackaging of a jejune tale. (Science fiction. 13-16)Pub Date: June 6, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-72826-839-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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