A sweet fantasy adventure that will resonate with YA readers.
A shape-shifting fox fights to keep the planes of existence connected and save the innocent from a malignant evil in Christie’s debut YA fantasy novel.
Saida is a shape-shifting fox (“foxan”) who has the ability to travel between planes of reality, each one related to a specific sense. For centuries, the 300-year-old Saida has kept the planes vibrant and closely connected by transplanting magic between the worlds. But now the worlds are dying—the magic is inexplicably being drained from the once-vibrant sensory planes. When the foxan meets Alesio, an amateur singer in the Sound realm who’s half-deaf in one ear, she knows immediately that he is special; his voice is literally magical, but he’s afflicted by “overgrown magic.” Before Saida can trim his excess sorcerous energy, they become entangled with a monstrous being Saida calls Watthe, a creature who’s obsessed with consuming magic—especially Saida’s. With Alesio as her unintended companion, Saida must figure out a way to stop the monster before the worlds become separated forever and all magic is lost. While the uniqueness of the story’s worldbuilding and magic system is noteworthy, it’s the thematic threads throughout that make this novel compelling, particularly for young readers: Saida has been hurt in a previous relationship—she is “fragmented,” just like the sensory planes. (And though she is 300 years old, she has a teenage mentality and naïveté.) During her adventure with Alesio, she discovers not only her inner strength and her self-esteem, but also what love truly means: “Love isn’t about cages, or about someone forcing you to love them back. That’s selfishness. Love, real love, is about helping the other person because you want to. Because you care about them, and that’s all that matters.”
A sweet fantasy adventure that will resonate with YA readers.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9798988990512
Page Count: 294
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression.
After surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself.
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself; her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out; her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply; and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her—who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves—Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way "girls who write their pain on their bodies" scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together.
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93471-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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