Part fantasy, part fairy tale, part action-adventure—and all heart.
What would you risk for acceptance?
Ferra bemoans the loss of Ephemeral, the girl she loves, and wishes to be so “beautiful” and “unique” that she will return her affection. Ferra’s prayer is answered by a magical being who turns her into a living porcelain figure. Now extremely fragile, Ferra damages her face, leaving an empty hole where her left eye was. Wanting to cross the sea to be with her lost love, she overhears young pirate captain Brigantine bragging about her ship’s prowess. With a crew desperate for cash, Brig takes the job. They set sail, hot-tempered Brig clashing with know-it-all Ferra nearly the entire way. Ferra will do anything to be worthy of Ephemeral’s attention, while Brig has something to prove to the floating city of pirates who banished her. What follows is an extended tale exploring the importance of accepting oneself, including one’s so-called imperfections. The story is fun, sweet, and exciting and is set in a rich fantasy world where magic is rare but very real. Offering moments of genuine depth, it challenges the toxic idea that people should change just to please another. Barna’s illustrations add oodles of energy as well as visual expansions of the worldbuilding. Before her transformation to white porcelain, Ferra had light-tan skin and brown hair; green-skinned Brig resembles an ogre-type, and the population of this world reflects various real-world and fantastical races.
Part fantasy, part fairy tale, part action-adventure—and all heart. (Graphic fantasy. 12-18)Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2023
ISBN: 9781534487765
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
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
A dark and gripping feminist tale.
A young woman faces her past to discover the truth about one of her nation’s heroes.
When Effy Sayre, the only female architecture student at her university in Llyr, wins the competition to design Hiraeth Manor for the estate of the late Emrys Myrddin, national literary figure and her favorite author, it is the perfect opportunity to leave behind a recent trauma. She arrives to find the cliffside estate is literally crumbling into the ocean, and she quickly realizes things may not be as they seem. Preston, an arrogant literature student, is also working at the estate, gathering materials for the university’s archives and questioning everything Effy knows about Myrddin. When Preston offers to include her name on his thesis—which may allow her to pursue the dream of studying literature that was frustrated by the university’s refusal to admit women literature students—Effy agrees to help him. He’s on a quest for answers about the source of Myrddin’s most famous work, Angharad, a romance about a cruel Fairy King who marries a mortal woman. Meanwhile, Myrddin’s son has secrets of his own. Preston and Effy start to suspect that Myrddin’s fairy tales may hold more truth than they realize. The Welsh-inspired setting is impressively atmospheric, and while some of the mythology ends up feeling extraneous, the worldbuilding is immersive and thoughtfully addresses misogyny and its effects on how history is written. Main characters are cued white.
A dark and gripping feminist tale. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780063211506
Page Count: 384
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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