To read or not to read? There’s really no question: pick this one up.
An Elizabethan actor witnesses the murder of Christopher Marlowe and accidentally becomes the queen’s spymaster in this Achillean historical fiction.
In 1593 London, Will Hughes scrapes together a life as a teenage actor at the Rose Theatre under the mentorship of Christopher Marlowe. Kidnapped from his anti-monarchist family at a young age, Will escaped indentured servitude and is now determined to get back to them. So when handsome young nobleman Lord James Bloomsbury offers him an exorbitant sum to stage an illicit play, Will is sure he’s found his ticket home. But when Will sees Marlowe get stabbed through the eye and finds a phial of poison that may be meant for the queen, their plans are derailed. James convinces Will to team up with him to solve the murder and earn the queen’s favor—something that’s vitally important to James but that Will sees as risky. As their investigation grows, the two are pulled into an increasingly tangled web that includes spies, noblemen, the infamous pirate queen Gráinne Ní Mháille, and Queen Elizabeth I herself, not to mention complicated feelings for each other. Will and James’ romantic arc is captivating, and Will’s first-person narration is propulsive. The existence of Black people in Elizabethan England is acknowledged through the presence of Will’s roommate Inigo. A well-balanced, well-researched dramedy, Cotter’s quippy, heart-wrenching debut is ideal for fans of Mackenzi Lee and F.T. Lukens.
To read or not to read? There’s really no question: pick this one up. (Historical fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2023
ISBN: 9781665940719
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A gripping tribute to resilience.
A girl with amnesia and a boy suspected of harming his girlfriend overcome adversity to find the answers they seek.
A 17-year-old girl wakes up in a ditch, disoriented and with no memory of who she is or what happened. Found by the Alton, Oregon, police, she is brought to the station. Soon after, Wayne Boone, a man claiming to be her father, shows up. He has photos of her on his phone and her high school ID card, with the name Mary Boone. Wayne convinces the police to release Mary into his custody. The more time Mary spends with Wayne, however, the weirder things get: He’s unaware of her food allergy, and as her memories start to return, they don’t conform with Wayne’s versions of her life. In the town of Washington City, across the Willamette River, Drew is in a bad place. His girlfriend, Lola, has disappeared, and Drew was the last person to see her. His adoptive dads and cousin are the only ones who support him; everyone else, including the sheriff, thinks he’s responsible for Lola’s disappearance. Intent on finding Lola, Drew finds help in an unlikely ally, Lola’s best friend, Autumn, who is the sheriff’s daughter. But will they find Lola in time? The two immersive storylines bring to life the trials and frustrations each main character faces in this debut, which is a thrilling delight right up to the unexpected and bittersweet conclusion. Most characters are cued white; one of Drew’s dads is Guatemalan.
A gripping tribute to resilience. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781728270111
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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