A fast-paced, well-researched, clever tale of loyalty, torture, and the power of persistence.
Those who don’t learn history are doomed to repeat it, but what about those who learn history for the sake of changing it?
The court of Henry VIII is a dangerous place to be. Between the king’s outbursts, the queen’s nervousness, and Cromwell’s conniving, it’s a hard place to relax. But redhead Charlie and his identical twin brother, Alex, who is gay, aren’t there to relax. They are there to prevent Henry VIII from marrying Lady Jane Seymour, thus preventing the swell of Catholicism that follows her subsequent death. The twins are actually from the future, where they work for The 48 as Assets, people who are sent to different periods in history to alter timelines according to the wishes of the Termination Order Directorate. The assignment is risky, but Alex and Charlie feel up to the task—until they realize that deception and disloyalty have followed them from their own time period. Hosie (The Devil’s Banshee, 2016, etc.) paints a picture of Tudor England with a carefully detailed brush, bringing the sights and sounds to the forefront while juggling a complex plot and several subplots filled with twists, turns, and torture. The characters, who all present as white and are of varying social classes, fully embody the language and spirit of their times.
A fast-paced, well-researched, clever tale of loyalty, torture, and the power of persistence. (author’s note) (Science fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3856-3
Page Count: 360
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
The well-paced romantic tension is a highlight of this enjoyable duology closer.
Even a war driven by gods can’t sever communication between journalist lovers Iris and Roman in this steampunk-adjacent romantic adventure.
A prologue sets the scene: Dacre, a god strummed to sleep by magic in Divine Rivals (2023), will not slumber forever. His willingness to wage war to acquire more powerful magic leads him to lay waste to entire towns, and Inkridden Tribune journalist Iris Winnow and war correspondent Roman Kitt can no longer be assured the other is safe—or even still alive. In Iris’ world of cigarette smoke, copper pipes, and driving goggles, colleagues affectionately call each other by their last names, watch each other’s backs, and face danger on the front lines. Though Underling Correspondent Roman is traveling with Dacre’s army, he questions why he was healed of his grievous wounds, while at the same time, he gradually recovers memories of Iris and recalls that she was special to him. Their magically connected typewriters allow for the rediscovery of their love and for communicating potentially deadly information about the invasion of Hawk Shire. The story primarily unfolds from Iris’ and Roman’s viewpoints, and while the prose occasionally uses well-worn phrases, Anglophiles will particularly enjoy the worldbuilding, and returning readers will welcome appearances from Capt. Keegan Torres; her wife, Marisol; and Dacre’s archnemesis—and wife—the goddess Enva. Main characters present white.
The well-paced romantic tension is a highlight of this enjoyable duology closer. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250857453
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
Truly fantastic.
This dark fantasy duology opener has a magic school, a death, and five students who find themselves stranded in the wilderness.
Ren Monroe is a promising student wizard at Balmerick, a private school in the city of Kathor. Along with her best friend, Timmons, Ren is one of the few welfare students attending on a scholarship, and despite being one of the most accomplished people at the school, finding a placement in one of the top houses is proving difficult and is a hurdle in the way of the secret mission Ren has set out to accomplish. When a portal spell goes awry and Ren, Timmons, and four other students from different walks of life are thrown together into the Dires, an uncharted land where the last dragons lived, one of them ends up dead and the rest need to learn to work together to make their way back home before they succumb to the harsh environment or the terrifying revenant following them. This may well be the chance Ren was looking for to prove her worth. Placing elements of a locked-room mystery and an original magic system within the familiar trappings of a school for magic, this is a no-holds-barred tale of revenge, atonement, and the pursuit of justice set in a world diverse in skin color and social classes. Ren is a protagonist for the ages: equal parts smart, calculating, and ruthless, forming a lethal package as an avenging angel.
Truly fantastic. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-66591-868-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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