Atmospheric writing and a premise that’s as fresh as newly turned earth can’t compensate for an overcrowded plot, making...
Gothic surrealism as everlasting as a ghost’s kiss blends with coming-of-age angst for the modern age.
Byrne introduces readers to a world in which entering one’s own grave is a rite of passage for 13-year-olds on par with Sweet 16 parties and graduation celebrations. Each year, newly teenage kids eagerly await receiving the keys to their very own personal graves. In fact, “a person’s grave was a window to her innermost thoughts. To go into another person’s grave was like eavesdropping on someone praying—it was beyond improper; it was flat out wrong.” The Windhams, a white family of grave keepers, live in upstate New York. High school junior Athena spends all her free time in her grave, but younger sister Laurel hasn’t embraced the ritual, much to the chagrin of her overprotective parents. It’s an eerie concept with just enough curiousness to make a person want to know more. Byrne’s masterful presentation of minute details makes the whole ritual world feel so real readers will want to Google it. But while the story is as layered as any cemetery worth its salt, it also juggles multiple storylines, including: the death of a sibling and the loss of a child; home schooling vs. traditional school; suffocating loneliness and a missing child. The result is a congested plot and obtuse characters.
Atmospheric writing and a premise that’s as fresh as newly turned earth can’t compensate for an overcrowded plot, making this a good effort but a challenging read. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-248475-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
Fast-moving and intriguing though inconsistent on multiple fronts.
Kids endure rigorous competition aboard a spaceship.
When Babel Communications invites 10 teens to participate in “the most serious space exploration known to mankind,” Emmett signs on. Surely it’s the jackpot: they’ll each receive $50,000 every month for life, and Emmett’s mother will get a kidney transplant, otherwise impossible for poor people. They head through space toward the planet Eden, where they’ll mine a substance called nyxia, “the new black gold.” En route, the corporation forces them into brutal competition with one another—fighting, running through violent virtual reality racecourses, and manipulating nyxia, which can become almost anything. It even forms language-translating facemasks, allowing Emmett, a black boy from Detroit, to communicate with competitors from other countries. Emmett's initial understanding of his own blackness may throw readers off, but a black protagonist in outer space is welcome. Awkward moments in the smattering of black vernacular are rare. Textual descriptions can be scanty; however, copious action and a reality TV atmosphere (the scoreboard shows regularly) make the pace flow. Emmett’s first-person voice is immediate and innocent: he realizes that Babel’s ruthless and coldblooded but doesn’t apply that to his understanding of what’s really going on. Readers will guess more than he does, though most confirmation waits for the next installment—this ends on a cliffhanger.
Fast-moving and intriguing though inconsistent on multiple fronts. (Science fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-55679-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Despite the well-meaning warmth, a wearying plod.
Can a 17-year-old with her first girlfriend prevent real-life folks from discovering her online fandoms?
Cass is proudly queer, happily fat, and extremely secretive about being a fan who role-plays on Discord. Back in middle school, she had what she calls a gaming addiction, playing “The Sims” so much her parents had to take the game away. Now, turning to her role-play friends to cope with her fighting parents, she worries that people will judge her for her fannishness and online life. To be fair, her grades are suffering. And sure, maybe she’s missed a college application deadline. Also, her mom has suddenly left Minneapolis and moved to Maine to be with a man she met online. But on the other hand, Cass is finally dating her amazingly cute longtime crush, Taylor. Pansexual Taylor is a gamer, a little bit punk, White like Cass, and so, so great—but she still can’t help comparing her to Rowan, Cass’ online best friend and role-playing ship partner. But Rowan doesn’t want to be a dirty little secret and doesn’t see why Cass can’t be honest about this part of her life. The inevitable train wreck of her lies looms on the horizon for months in an overlong morality play building to the climax that includes tidy resolutions to all the character arcs that are quite heartwarming but, in the case of Cass’ estranged mother, narratively unearned.
Despite the well-meaning warmth, a wearying plod. (Fiction. 13-16)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-06-324332-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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