Thrills without depth, purpose, or satisfaction.
A teen solves a mystery using information from paranormal seizures.
After Cassie’s father drowned in a boating accident, she had seizures, but she hasn’t had one in years—until her school bus crashes. Then they return, but they’re not really seizures: she appears to be unconscious, but her mind jumps into somebody else’s mind. She can’t control those she jumps into and doesn’t know their thoughts, but she sees and hears what they do from inside their heads. Separately, on an astral plane, she sees symbolic clues to two mysteries she’s trying to link and solve: who committed a recent hit-and-run in her Connecticut town and whether her former BFF, Amanda—in a coma from the bus wreck—has any connection to it. Terrifying scenes include being inside a skydiver’s mind as his parachute fails; being inside a rock star’s mind as she shoots heroin; and being inside a possible murderer’s mind while he’s trying to murder Cassie herself. Her narrative voice is breathless and saucy (“a skirt so short you can almost see Texas”); her casual appropriation, as a white American character, of “switshetshela,” the Xitsongan word for epilepsy (because “it sounds exotic. Okay, maybe not exotic. Just not so gross”), goes entirely unexamined. Moreover, the disability-as-magic trope is tired. Emotional healing supposedly happens, but it rings shallow.
Thrills without depth, purpose, or satisfaction. (Supernatural mystery. 14-16)Pub Date: Oct. 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-929345-26-7
Page Count: 262
Publisher: Poisoned Pencil
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
Oh, the humanity.
Power, love and vengeance come together in this consistently over-the-top conclusion to the Starcrossed trilogy.
Nantucket teen Helen Hamilton is a direct descendent of Helen of Troy, and she’s as entangled as her ancestor was in wars between gods and men. Helen is a Scion, one of an ancient family descended from the Greek gods and cursed to re-enact the old hatreds throughout the ages. Her erstwhile lover Lucas is himself the reincarnation of the first Helen’s lover, Paris. Along with the other Scions—most of whom are confusingly similar to multiple other characters and have seemingly random Classical names, such as Orion, who looks exactly like his uncle Adonis and is Aeneas reborn—Helen must keep the Greek gods from destroying the Earth. With monster-filled battles and the Earth at stake, the plot has no need for the ludicrous forces creating unresolvable sexual tension between Helen and Lucas. Their love has been destined for eons, leaving them without the free will to feel as strongly about others. Helen and Lucas are first cousins, and Scion close relatives always have insane children. They can’t choose to be childless because of another ancient curse which will damn the human race if Helen doesn’t have a baby. Cinematic battle scenes are punctuated with a presumably unintentionally hilarious fireworks-backed kiss and culminate in an overly expository epilogue.
Oh, the humanity. (Paranormal romance. 14-16)Pub Date: May 28, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-201203-6
Page Count: 432
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
Deeply enmeshed with a magical world and its impossible choices before readers ever meet her, Ava and her wholly believable...
An indentured magical assassin just wants a little peace with her chosen family.
Firebug Ava, who can set fires with her mind, has been on the run her whole life. When Ava’s firebug mother became pregnant, she did the unthinkable and fled from the supernatural mob, raising Ava on the road for years, always in hiding. But nobody escapes the Coterie alive, and Ava’s mom was no exception. Orphaned, Ava lives with her mother’s human childhood sweetheart in rural Maine. She’s allowed to stay in Maine only on the condition of her loyalty to Venus, the Coterie’s bloodthirsty vampire leader. Along with her two best friends, also unwilling Coterie employees, Ava’s an unpaid assassin. Ava, Ezra, a werefox, and Lock, a handsome dryad, are Venus’ enforcers, putting down any supernaturals foolish enough to challenge Venus’ power. As long as Ava does the bloody work, she and her loved ones are left alone—but what happens when Venus demands something Ava simply won’t do? Ava’s exhausted despair, her love for her found family and her coldly practical choices are pre-existing conditions, and the moral decisions she makes are surprisingly nuanced.
Deeply enmeshed with a magical world and its impossible choices before readers ever meet her, Ava and her wholly believable despair are a refreshing change from the endless parade of naïve heroines found elsewhere . (Fantasy. 14-16)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9862-4
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
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