While leaving readers with many questions, Carmack creates enough suspense that they’ll be scrambling for the sequel.
Carmack introduces weather magic and a girl who will go to great lengths to reclaim her power in the first of the Stormheart series.
In Aurora’s world, magical storms strike with ferocity, and only a few are born into the magic to combat them. As the sole heir to her kingdom, Aurora is expected to keep the storms at bay. The only problem? She has no magic. With storms fast approaching, Aurora’s mother, the queen regnant, orchestrates an arranged marriage between her daughter and a powerful prince from a neighboring kingdom. When the prince deceives her, Aurora is desperate to find a way out of the marriage while still ensuring her kingdom’s safety, when she stumbles upon an illegal market where she finds that magic can be learned. Hoping to return with new abilities, Aurora leaves home and joins up with a band of storm hunters. Her quest brings many unexpected surprises, and it is a race against time, as her kingdom is under attack. Carmack introduces an exciting new world that contains intriguing magic and complex social structures, but the worldbuilding feels incomplete. The magic is at times difficult to grasp, and a romantic storyline distracts from the action. While readers are introduced to a number of interesting characters, they unfortunately remain in the peripherals. Aurora is a white 18-year-old; her intended, Cassius, is likewise white.
While leaving readers with many questions, Carmack creates enough suspense that they’ll be scrambling for the sequel. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: June 13, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7653-8631-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Tor Teen
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty.
In this retelling of a classic, a drama student’s obsession with beauty leads her down a dark—and possibly deadly—path.
Eighteen-year-old Penny Paxton is beginning her first year at Dorian Drama Academy in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she hopes to follow in her starlet mother’s footsteps—and earn the love that her mother has never seemed to offer. At Dorian, Penny is mentored by Royal Shakespeare Company legend Orlagh Camran, who makes her the compelling offer of a portrait by the Masked Painter, a mysterious artist with the ability to gift his subjects everlasting youth and beauty. But shortly after Penny’s portrait is complete, several of the Masked Painter’s subjects are found murdered. Fearing that she’s made a terrible mistake and may become the next victim, Penny, who’s gay, begins to investigate the murders with the help of an unlikely ally. As she attempts to uncover the truth surrounding the Masked Painter and the murders, she’s forced to reckon with her own toxic obsession with beauty. This chilling, atmospheric novel, inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, is entertaining and full of twists, though some of the reveals feel contrived and some questions are left unanswered. The plot unravels at a leisurely pace but eventually builds to an action-packed (if somewhat convoluted) conclusion. Most characters are cued white.
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty. (content note, author’s note, bonus scene) (Fantasy thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781250346797
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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