Young adventurers headline an entertaining SF tale.
In this fourth installment of a YA series, time-traveling teens fight to preserve the American Revolution’s original outcome.
Picking up right after Kep Westguard:The Great Escape (2024), this SF novel opens with Kep and his younger brother, Max, in 18th-century Saratoga, New York. Their companions, TJ and Tela, return to the modern day via a time machine to update the covert organization Kronos on what’s happening. Here’s the situation: Just before the pair’s departure home, Kep realized that someone was planning to sabotage the Battle of Saratoga, so that the British would triumph. Additionally, he suspected that a spy was hiding among the Americans. Now, if he and Max can’t agree on who the traitor is, then they have no way of thwarting the dangerous plot (“If the outcome of this battle changed, if the Americans lost, history would change. The United States might never exist”). Maybe things will improve once the brothers reunite with TJ and Tela, who first must wait for their systems “to stabilize” before time-traveling back to 1777. With all four tackling the problem, surely they’ll dream up a viable solution. Schnabel aptly mingles historical figures with the series’ recurring cast. For example, Benedict Arnold is possibly the traitor, but his infamous betrayal occurred three years later, and, according to Max, he was the unsung hero of the eponymous battle. This book also includes periodic “mission notes,” which highlight intriguing details about the real-life Battle of Saratoga and some of the people involved. The young heroes boast distinctive personalities and prove more than capable of handling the story’s astonishing task, all while making understandable blunders (at one point, TJ, who is trying to butter up Arnold, mistakenly praises him for something he hasn’t done yet). Although the cast is strong, the ways in which this story showcases individual skill sets occasionally feels contrived, particularly TJ’s acting prowess and champion skeet shooter Tela’s expertise with a historic long rifle. Further installments will undoubtedly follow, as a series-long villain (named in Kep’s opening recap, the only part he narrates) is not integral to this diverting installment.
Young adventurers headline an entertaining SF tale.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in.
Black is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy.
Jude—broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness—has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others. Fierce and observant Jude is utterly unaware of the currents that swirl around her. She fights, plots, even murders enemies, but she must also navigate her relationship with her complex family (human, Faerie, and mixed). This is a heady blend of Faerie lore, high fantasy, and high school drama, dripping with description that brings the dangerous but tempting world of Faerie to life.
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-31027-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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