A King Arthur–based fantasy set in modern-day Canada.
High school student and inveterate reader of fantasy Ariane Forsythe is haunted by her mother’s supposed descent into insanity, which preceded her disappearance two and a half years ago. Only recently out of foster care (now in the care of her aunt, who was previously too sick to care for her niece), Ariane is used to bullies, and these find her almost as soon as she has started her new school. Through a magical encounter with the Lady of the Lake, Ariane discovers she is the Lady’s heir, accepting the Lady’s power and a quest to retrieve the shattered shards of Excalibur before Merlin—still alive and the story’s villain—can. Aiding Ariane is her schoolmate, the endearingly geeky Wally Knight. Together they use Ariane’s new powers to seek the shards and face Merlin, readying themselves for the sequel. The fantastic elements work better than the realistic ones. Readers will be struck at the way the girls who prey on Ariane vacillate between laughable immaturity and more plausible tactics, such as force-stripping Ariane with the intention of texting her picture to their schoolmates. Nevertheless, though it’s not fast-paced, it’s a tight story (all the details make sense), and characters exhibit honest emotions.
Fantasy references galore should ensure that readers who enjoy fantasy—and Arthurian legend in particular—come away satisfied. (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: May 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-55050-580-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Coteau Books
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2014
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
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BOOK REVIEW
A gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.
Fifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting—plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers—escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel.
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes . (Science fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25675-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
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The victory of Jacob and his fellow peculiars over the previous episode’s wights and hollowgasts turns out to be only one move in a larger game as Riggs (Tales of the Peculiar, 2016, etc.) shifts the scene to America.
Reading largely as a setup for a new (if not exactly original) story arc, the tale commences just after Jacob’s timely rescue from his decidedly hostile parents. Following aimless visits back to newly liberated Devil’s Acre and perfunctory normalling lessons for his magically talented friends, Jacob eventually sets out on a road trip to find and recruit Noor, a powerful but imperiled young peculiar of Asian Indian ancestry. Along the way he encounters a semilawless patchwork of peculiar gangs, syndicates, and isolated small communities—many at loggerheads, some in the midst of negotiating a tentative alliance with the Ymbryne Council, but all threatened by the shadowy Organization. The by-now-tangled skein of rivalries, romantic troubles, and family issues continues to ravel amid bursts of savage violence and low comedy (“I had never seen an invisible person throw up before,” Jacob writes, “and it was something I won’t soon forget”). A fresh set of found snapshots serves, as before, to add an eldritch atmosphere to each set of incidents. The cast defaults to white but includes several people of color with active roles.
Not much forward momentum but a tasty array of chills, thrills, and chortles. (Horror/Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7352-3214-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Sept. 2, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2018
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