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
Cracking page-turner with a multiethnic band of misfits with differing sexual orientations who satisfyingly, believably jell...
Adolescent criminals seek the haul of a lifetime in a fantasyland at the beginning of its industrial age.
The dangerous city of Ketterdam is governed by the Merchant Council, but in reality, large sectors of the city are given over to gangs who run the gambling dens and brothels. The underworld's rising star is 17-year-old Kaz Brekker, known as Dirtyhands for his brutal amorality. Kaz walks with chronic pain from an old injury, but that doesn't stop him from utterly destroying any rivals. When a councilman offers him an unimaginable reward to rescue a kidnapped foreign chemist—30 million kruge!—Kaz knows just the team he needs to assemble. There's Inej, an itinerant acrobat captured by slavers and sold to a brothel, now a spy for Kaz; the Grisha Nina, with the magical ability to calm and heal; Matthias the zealot, hunter of Grishas and caught in a hopeless spiral of love and vengeance with Nina; Wylan, the privileged boy with an engineer's skills; and Jesper, a sharpshooter who keeps flirting with Wylan. Bardugo broadens the universe she created in the Grisha Trilogy, sending her protagonists around countries that resemble post-Renaissance northern Europe, where technology develops in concert with the magic that's both coveted and despised. It’s a highly successful venture, leaving enough open questions to cause readers to eagerly await Volume 2.
Cracking page-turner with a multiethnic band of misfits with differing sexual orientations who satisfyingly, believably jell into a family . (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62779-212-7
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
BOOK TO SCREEN
Eden’s emotionally raw narration is compelling despite its solipsism. (Fiction. 14-18)
In the three years following Eden’s brutal rape by her brother’s best friend, Kevin, she descends into anger, isolation, and promiscuity.
Eden’s silence about the assault is cemented by both Kevin’s confident assurance that if she tells anyone, “No one will ever believe you. You know that. No one. Not ever,” and a chillingly believable death threat. For the remainder of Eden’s freshman year, she withdraws from her family and becomes increasingly full of hatred for Kevin and the world she feels failed to protect her. But when a friend mentions that she’s “reinventing” herself, Eden embarks on a hopeful plan to do the same. She begins her sophomore year with new clothes and friendly smiles for her fellow students, which attract the romantic attentions of a kind senior athlete. But, bizarrely, Kevin’s younger sister goes on a smear campaign to label Eden a “totally slutty disgusting whore,” which sends Eden back toward self-destruction. Eden narrates in a tightly focused present tense how she withdraws again from nearly everyone and attempts to find comfort (or at least oblivion) through a series of nearly anonymous sexual encounters. This self-centeredness makes her relationships with other characters feel underdeveloped and even puzzling at times. Absent ethnic and cultural markers, Eden and her family and classmates are likely default white.
Eden’s emotionally raw narration is compelling despite its solipsism. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: March 22, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-4935-9
Page Count: 384
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
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