Space opera mixed with resilience and determination in an upended world.
A gifted grad student is drawn into a rebellion that threatens her comfortable existence.
Morgan Enni lives on the most prosperous of the Stavenger space stations, but she doesn’t crave fancy possessions or long for excitement. She also doesn’t mind that she can’t work with æther since she lacks the gene-sense shared by most residents of Katla. Morgan just wants to convince the university to fund her research so she can work alone in her lab. Her investigation into the long-ago collapse of æther overlaps with the realm of politics, but Morgan’s not interested in the bizarre events that happened on Brannick Station (as covered in 2021’s Aetherbound). She’s just going to focus on her academic research, even if it disappoints all the people who want her to be politically involved. But when she returns from her fieldwork, politics finds her anyway. Banished from her precious laboratory, Morgan might as well join the rebellion, who’ll at least fund her research—her family secret is a currency too precious for the rebels to refuse her. Her discoveries about the æther cycle are useful to them, besides. Morgan, who’s comfortably asexual, also discovers her quiet desire for romance among the rebels. The storytelling is heavy on explanation and oddly emotionally distant, but this sequel about one girl’s rejection of an irritating destiny is chock-full of space battles and forms a solid companion to the series opener.
Space opera mixed with resilience and determination in an upended world. (Science fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: July 22, 2025
ISBN: 9781984816160
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Somberly beautiful.
A girl goes in search of her missing sister and discovers a strange hidden world of dreams.
Corin, who’s 18 and dark-skinned, strives to protect her 12-year-old sister, Elly. But life as a thief is full of struggle, poverty, and loss, even without Corin’s avoidance of other relationships. Elly clings to the promise of fairy tales, like the one that says a princess lies sleeping in an underground castle after pricking her finger on a spindle. After the sisters fight and Elly runs off, Corin searches for her in Gyldan’s old network of tunnels—and finds the tale is true: Cursed Princess Amelia, golden-haired, with eyes like “sea glass” and porcelain skin, lies asleep, surrounded by flowers. Corin enters the princess’ dreamworld—the place “where your subconscious desires come to life.” She meets Briar Rose, Amelia’s alter ego, who experienced her share of sadness and wanted to fall asleep. Also in the dreamworld is green-skinned Malicine, the nonbinary demon who, despite having placed the curse of eternal slumber on Amelia, is mostly friendly. All three are running from things they can’t face, though the dreamworld may not give them a choice. Pham’s debut, a Sapphic reimagining of “Sleeping Beauty,” explores mental health and asks a lot of readers as it seesaws between emotional confrontations, time jumps, and scenes where one character inhabits the memories of another, all of which demand intense engagement. Still, the ending is earned as well as positive.
Somberly beautiful. (content note) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2026
ISBN: 9798217113026
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Kokila
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
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