A compelling premise that lacks needed depth.
Vampire siblings are turned back into mortal teenagers and forced to attend high school in Nowhere, Iowa.
Charlotte and her brother, Reginald, have been vampires for a century now, but after Charlie almost kills a human and Reg gets involved, their punishment is to become mortal again. Charlie tries repeatedly to persuade the Elders to make them back into vampires. In the meantime, they reluctantly agree to attend Hope High School. Charlie’s assumption that she’ll fit right in as the new queen bee is quickly dashed, but eventually she and Reg make friends, find love interests, and start to appreciate certain aspects of human life like sunlight and coffee. When the opportunity to regain her immortality finally comes but with severe stipulations, Charlie has to decide who she truly wants to be. Charlie’s first-person narration is inviting and amusing as she walks a fine line between confident and egotistical. Her growth drives the story, though some of her changes feel too abrupt. However, the tale falls into tired tropes: Reg is lovable but ultimately comes across as an underdeveloped queer sidekick, and the ending of his story arc is unsatisfying. An important paranormal power is briefly explained as originating from a long-ago Indigenous woman. Enough is left open at the end of the book for a potential sequel, but it comes at the detriment of this story, which is left feeling incomplete with underexplored worldbuilding. Main characters are implied White.
A compelling premise that lacks needed depth. (Paranormal. 13-18)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-321911-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
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
A twisty chronicle, filled with equal parts glory and gore, of an outlier who transforms into a modern “final girl.”
A teenager enrolls in a lethal competition to salvage her reputation and repair her broken future.
As the valedictorian of Edgewater Academy, 18-year-old Adina Walker planned to attend Yale University and escape the predictability of suburban Massachusetts, where old money, classism, and casual racism are as ubiquitous as Brooks Brothers. Fortunately, Adina has her best friend, Toni, who is one of the few other Black students on campus. After a long-simmering conflict between Adina and queen bee Esme Alderidge turns physical, Adina’s Yale acceptance is rescinded. Just when all hope seems lost, Adina is invited to participate in the Finish, a high-pressure, exclusive contest sponsored by the town’s ruling blueblood family, the Remingtons. But soon after Adina arrives at Remington Estate, she learns this competition isn’t a test of feminine etiquette—it’s a battle for survival. In this debut thriller that calls to mind the Japanese dystopian film Battle Royale (2000) and the American horror film Ready or Not (2019), power and privilege are depicted as twin evils that decimate empathy and corrupt morality. Adina’s outsider status amplifies the desperate greed and calculated sociopathy of the upper crust. While the worldbuilding is thin in some places, particularly around the dark traditions of the Remingtons and the unquestioning compliance of their sycophants, readers are rewarded with heart-stopping reveals.
A twisty chronicle, filled with equal parts glory and gore, of an outlier who transforms into a modern “final girl.” (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: July 25, 2023
ISBN: 9781665922425
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
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