A tense and spellbindingly gripping fantasy meditation on the horrors of the Holocaust.
In this supernatural novel, a young Jewish girl becomes invisible in order to flee the Nazis.
As Slater’s story opens, the Siegel family has moved several times in Germany, first to Weiler in 1938, then to the smaller town of Gemeinde in 1939, and finally to minuscule Ortschaft in the summer of 1940. Ortschaft, a town of only 10,000 residents, still seems amicable enough to its 200 Jewish inhabitants. Young Sophie Siegel may be hopeful, but readers know what’s coming. The restrictions and brutality increase even in Ortschaft until the horrifying day when Sophie, hiding in a closet, watches through a crack as Nazis kill her parents. Then she makes a shocking discovery: When those same Nazis search her closet, they don’t see her. She has become invisible. She’s still stranded in Nazi Germany, but now she’s able to watch unimpeded—and to do her best to foment resistance (including the outlandish hope of creating a gigantic golem to defend the Jews). Using this subtle, startling blend of historical fiction and richly imagined fantasy, Slater manages to craft that rarest of things: a Holocaust novel that feels new. The author has a keen eye for the small, true details of everyday life. The creeping, incremental degradations of Nazi Germany are portrayed with a dramatic immediacy often missing from history books. Slater is also very skilled at creating tense moments arising from Sophie’s invisibility. At one point, she’s standing in the middle of a room that’s being vigorously searched by Nazi soldiers: “For a long and terrifying few seconds, the redhead stood directly in front of Sophie, who was too cold and too scared to do anything but shake. If he had taken just one more step, he would have kicked her.”
A tense and spellbindingly gripping fantasy meditation on the horrors of the Holocaust.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-956769-11-1
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Library Tales Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
Perhaps a more genuinely enlightened protagonist would have made this debut more engaging
Audrey Rose Wadsworth, 17, would rather perform autopsies in her uncle’s dark laboratory than find a suitable husband, as is the socially acceptable rite of passage for a young, white British lady in the late 1800s.
The story immediately brings Audrey into a fractious pairing with her uncle’s young assistant, Thomas Cresswell. The two engage in predictable rounds of “I’m smarter than you are” banter, while Audrey’s older brother, Nathaniel, taunts her for being a girl out of her place. Horrific murders of prostitutes whose identities point to associations with the Wadsworth estate prompt Audrey to start her own investigation, with Thomas as her sidekick. Audrey’s narration is both ponderous and polemical, as she sees her pursuit of her goals and this investigation as part of a crusade for women. She declares that the slain aren’t merely prostitutes but “daughters and wives and mothers,” but she’s also made it a point to deny any alignment with the profiled victims: “I am not going as a prostitute. I am simply blending in.” Audrey also expresses a narrow view of her desired gender role, asserting that “I was determined to be both pretty and fierce,” as if to say that physical beauty and liking “girly” things are integral to feminism. The graphic descriptions of mutilated women don’t do much to speed the pace.
Perhaps a more genuinely enlightened protagonist would have made this debut more engaging . (Historical thriller. 15-18)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-27349-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
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