A diverting fantasy novel that champions camaraderie and acceptance.
In Fliederbaum’s YA debut, a teen girl and a dragon forge an unlikely friendship in a world where their species are enemies.
In an Earth-like world (in which medieval fantasy elements co-exist with modern technology), Ellen Delacroix finds a strange silver ring in her room and tries it on. After a few twists of the ring around her finger, she inadvertently finds herself in the Wildlands, well outside the domed Safe Zone where she and her fellow humans live. Like all of her kind, she fears dragons; luckily, the one she runs into is a warmhearted creature, named Shard. He offers to teach Ellen magic after her attempt to defend herself makes it obvious that she’s “magically impaired.” Plus, Shard could use a friend, as his twin brother, Keeper, who considers Shard weak, regularly beats him. Ellen and Shard must stay mum about their training sessions, as humans and dragons share a mutual hatred based on events in both the past and present. Their arrangement won’t stay a secret for long, with Shard’s uncle (the dragon chieftain Inferno and the Safe Zone installing new security cameras. The dual protagonists shine brightly and match well; each one has trouble entirely trusting the other and has suffered a family tragedy. The story bravely tackles topical issues including bigotry and suicidal ideation. Some of the themes are a bit heavy-handed in the execution, as when Shard proclaims, “I act all confident and snarky, but that’s just to hide how much I hate myself!” But there is a myriad of absorbing subplots and mysteries to keep things moving—where did that ring come from, and who’s the “woman in the black cloak” periodically showing up in the narrative? Several of these questions go unanswered; the author surely has a sequel in the wings.
A diverting fantasy novel that champions camaraderie and acceptance.Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2023
ISBN: 9781959804192
Page Count: 324
Publisher: Water Dragon Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2023
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
Both entertaining and well-written; demands and holds readers’ attention.
A duology opener that revisits the world of Divergent (2011).
Beatrice “Tris” Prior is Divergent. But before she can select Dauntless, her Choosing Ceremony is interrupted by a group of factionless rebels, and her good friend is killed. Amid the chaos, Tris sees Evelyn, the wife of Abnegation leader Marcus Eaton—but Evelyn supposedly died years ago. And, shockingly, she’s an Amity woman who’s holding a gun. Tris doesn’t tell anyone, even her father, when he later questions her. Her brother, Caleb, chooses Erudite—the faction that’s most critical toward the Abnegation and their practices—and Tris feels pressured to stay in Abnegation. But when her father tries to erase her memories, she knows she’s unsafe. Tris’ mother helps her escape to the factionless, where Tris meets Four, a Dauntless boy. Their relationship shows her that she was right to leave Abnegation—and that maybe the rebels are correct to want the death of the faction system. As Tris becomes friends with the other “faction failures,” she realizes that no faction is as it seems, and that power is a corrupting influence they can’t escape. This exciting work revisits beloved characters, offering a new understanding of them and of what happens when we stand up and ask questions. Returning fans and those new to this world will appreciate the witty banter, slow-burn romance, and heartache stemming from betrayal and complicated familial love. The leads are cued white.
Both entertaining and well-written; demands and holds readers’ attention. (Dystopian. 13-18)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9780063462595
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2026
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