Themes can’t save a book when plot, characters, and setting don’t hold water.
In a flood-plagued future Europe, a have and a have-not fall in love.
Horrible storms and flooding have resulted in the division of the former Low Countries into Dry areas (populated by the rich and privileged) and Wet areas (characterized by high poverty and risk). Blonde, white Nina Bradshaw is a governor’s daughter, about as Dry as it gets. The plot falters out of the gate, as readers are expected to believe that such an elite girl is, after a flood destroys her school, sent to a dangerous Wet school in a poor area. Lucky for her, there’s a handsome bad boy, brown-skinned Max Zeitoun, for her to have an immediate connection with. A teacher that pairs them up for assignments is substituted for relationship development. Nina mourns her sister, killed in that school flood; Max lost his father as well—dark secrets and truths are uncovered, twists right on schedule. During the twists, characters change allegiances with enough frequency and speed to give readers whiplash. Neither character is compelling—Max has violent impulse issues, Nina is oblivious or freezes—and together they form a relationship interesting only in its fumbling physical consummation (which comes after Nina faces sexual assaults). The worldbuilding is flimsy, and the setting frequently lacks descriptive texture and grounding details. The ending is frustratingly opaque.
Themes can’t save a book when plot, characters, and setting don’t hold water. (afterword) (Post-apocalyptic romance. 14 & up)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-935954-38-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Lemniscaat USA
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
The well-paced romantic tension is a highlight of this enjoyable duology closer.
Even a war driven by gods can’t sever communication between journalist lovers Iris and Roman in this steampunk-adjacent romantic adventure.
A prologue sets the scene: Dacre, a god strummed to sleep by magic in Divine Rivals (2023), will not slumber forever. His willingness to wage war to acquire more powerful magic leads him to lay waste to entire towns, and Inkridden Tribune journalist Iris Winnow and war correspondent Roman Kitt can no longer be assured the other is safe—or even still alive. In Iris’ world of cigarette smoke, copper pipes, and driving goggles, colleagues affectionately call each other by their last names, watch each other’s backs, and face danger on the front lines. Though Underling Correspondent Roman is traveling with Dacre’s army, he questions why he was healed of his grievous wounds, while at the same time, he gradually recovers memories of Iris and recalls that she was special to him. Their magically connected typewriters allow for the rediscovery of their love and for communicating potentially deadly information about the invasion of Hawk Shire. The story primarily unfolds from Iris’ and Roman’s viewpoints, and while the prose occasionally uses well-worn phrases, Anglophiles will particularly enjoy the worldbuilding, and returning readers will welcome appearances from Capt. Keegan Torres; her wife, Marisol; and Dacre’s archnemesis—and wife—the goddess Enva. Main characters present white.
The well-paced romantic tension is a highlight of this enjoyable duology closer. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250857453
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
Truly fantastic.
This dark fantasy duology opener has a magic school, a death, and five students who find themselves stranded in the wilderness.
Ren Monroe is a promising student wizard at Balmerick, a private school in the city of Kathor. Along with her best friend, Timmons, Ren is one of the few welfare students attending on a scholarship, and despite being one of the most accomplished people at the school, finding a placement in one of the top houses is proving difficult and is a hurdle in the way of the secret mission Ren has set out to accomplish. When a portal spell goes awry and Ren, Timmons, and four other students from different walks of life are thrown together into the Dires, an uncharted land where the last dragons lived, one of them ends up dead and the rest need to learn to work together to make their way back home before they succumb to the harsh environment or the terrifying revenant following them. This may well be the chance Ren was looking for to prove her worth. Placing elements of a locked-room mystery and an original magic system within the familiar trappings of a school for magic, this is a no-holds-barred tale of revenge, atonement, and the pursuit of justice set in a world diverse in skin color and social classes. Ren is a protagonist for the ages: equal parts smart, calculating, and ruthless, forming a lethal package as an avenging angel.
Truly fantastic. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-66591-868-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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