Fast-paced action and a rich setting boost the beginning of a promising paranormal saga.
In this thriller, a teenager in Hong Kong must find and protect a supernatural artifact from warring factions after his sister’s death.
Rachel Reynolds is dead, and her teenage brother, Jack, has all but been denied by his rich, domineering father, Addison, a chance to mourn her. Jack returns to the Beacon Hill boarding school in Hong Kong under a vengeful pall after his bodyguard informs him that his sister was murdered. Jack and his loyal schoolmates have sworn to discover exactly what happened to Rachel. But through their investigation, Jack uncovers much about his sister he did not know relating to the Cherub, a religious group that worships the god Elyon (“Even when I was tired of listening, she never stopped talking about Elyon. She encouraged me to discover for myself what she had found”). With her gone, Jack must take her place and travel to another realm to track down powerful artifacts that could destroy the world. Jack is opposed by his father and the Merikh, criminals with ties to China who control illicit activities in the Golden Triangle. The Cherub’s leaders’ past failures leave Jack struggling with trust issues and the question of whether his faith in Elyon is strong enough to help him protect Eden’s Star and his Beacon Hill friends. Williams’ series opener moves briskly, with short, quick chapters and lots of action. A showdown with a fire-throwing villain and a double-decker bus particularly stands out but is far from the only excitement in the tale. Beacon Hill and the surrounding streets of Kowloon come alive in the novel. While some world traveling is a key facet of the genre, every chapter away from the school is disappointing because of how well established Beacon Hill and Jack’s classmates are. Hong Kong’s history and present-day protests deliver a nice touchstone in a story that deals mainly in fantasy. Visions of a destructive future and the haven Beacon Hill will provide haunt the protagonist: clever foreshadowing for his next adventures. But in looking toward the sequel, the volume neglects to offer enough closure to allow the tale to stand on its own.
Fast-paced action and a rich setting boost the beginning of a promising paranormal saga.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781496462657
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Wander
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Whether you came for the lore or the love, perfection.
Broken people, complicated families, magic, and Faerie politics: Black’s back.
After the tumultuous ending to the last volume (marriage, exile, and the seeming collapse of all her plots), Jude finds herself in the human world, which lacks appeal despite a childhood spent longing to go back. The price of her upbringing becomes clear: A human raised in the multihued, multiformed, always capricious Faerie High Court by the man who killed her parents, trained for intrigue and combat, recruited to a spy organization, and ultimately the power behind the coup and the latest High King, Jude no longer understands how to exist happily in a world that isn’t full of magic and danger. A plea from her estranged twin sends her secretly back to Faerie, where things immediately come to a boil with Cardan (king, nemesis, love interest) and all the many political strands Jude has tugged on for the past two volumes. New readers will need to go back to The Cruel Prince (2018) to follow the complexities—political and personal side plots abound—but the legions of established fans will love every minute of this lushly described, tightly plotted trilogy closer. Jude might be traumatized and emotionally unhealthy, but she’s an antihero worth cheering on. There are few physical descriptions of humans and some queer representation.
Whether you came for the lore or the love, perfection. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Nov. 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-316-31042-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
For fans, a finale that satisfies.
Picking up just after the end of Legendary (2018), Garber continues to build the world of Caraval with a final installment, this time focusing equally on both Dragna sisters’ perspectives.
After they released their long-missing mother from the Deck of Destiny, Scarlett and Donatella hoped to rebuild their relationship and gain a new sense of family. However, Legend also released the rest of the Fates, and, much to their dismay, the Fallen Star—essentially the ur-Fate—is only gaining in power. As the Fates begin to throw Valenda into chaos and disarray, the sisters must decide whom him to trust, whom to love, and how to set themselves free. Scar’s and Tella’s passionate will-they-or-won’t-they relationships with love interests are still (at times, inexplicably) compelling, taking up a good half of the plot and balancing out the large-scale power games with more domestic ones. Much like the previous two, this third book in the series is overwritten, with overly convenient worldbuilding that struggles nearly as much as the overwrought prose and convoluted plot. While those who aren’t Garber’s fans are unlikely to pick up this volume, new (or forgetful) readers will find the text repetitious enough to be able to follow along.
For fans, a finale that satisfies. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-15766-9
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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