A snapping, crackling, popping homage to classic horror that alludes to no optimistic resolution—all the more reason for a...
Trust is a fickle commodity in a Northern California town being slowly ingested by shape-shifting intergalactic parasites.
When 16-year-old Ben’s childhood friend Haley is presumed dead, fatherless Ben and his mother pack up again and head to Haley’s hometown of Prospero, California, to pay condolences and find a new place to stay. Prospero’s paranormal reputation is made a shade weirder at Haley’s memorial service when Ben meets redheaded, overtly peculiar 16-year-old Mina Todd. Mina warns Ben that it’s not really his friend that’s missing but rather one of many shape-shifting alien impostors called Splinters. Mina is a “Splinter resistor,” and she asks him to help her spy on, stalk and destroy the growing Splinter population. A Splinter attack on the mismatched duo (Mina is a creature of logic and deduction; Ben is a charming kid with “heartthrob hair”) convinces Ben to join her. Written by a husband-wife duo who admit an affinity for horror films in their dedication, this dual narrative from Ben’s and Mina’s perspectives has horror’s classic backdrop of small-town creepiness. One welcome difference to the archetypal “final girl” formula of flaxen hair and virginal naïveté is that Mina is tough, possibly insane, definitely brilliant, and has already been terrorized and tormented by the body-snatching Splinters long before the story begins.
A snapping, crackling, popping homage to classic horror that alludes to no optimistic resolution—all the more reason for a series. (Horror. 12-16)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-939967-39-8
Page Count: 328
Publisher: Jolly Fish Press
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play.
Garber returns to the world of bestseller Caraval (2017), this time with the focus on younger, more daring sister Donatella.
Valenda, capital of the empire, is host to the second of Legend’s magical games in a single year, and while Scarlett doesn’t want to play again, blonde Tella is eager for a chance to prove herself. She is haunted by the memory of her death in the last game and by the cursed Deck of Destiny she used as a child which foretold her loveless future. Garber has changed many of the rules of her expanding world, which now appears to be infused with magic and evil Fates. Despite a weak plot and ultraviolet prose (“He tasted like exquisite nightmares and stolen dreams, like the wings of fallen angels, and bottles of fresh moonlight.”), this is a tour de force of imagination. Themes of love, betrayal, and the price of magic (and desire) swirl like Caraval’s enchantments, and Dante’s sensuous kisses will thrill readers as much as they do Tella. The convoluted machinations of the Prince of Hearts (one of the Fates), Legend, and even the empress serve as the impetus for Tella’s story and set up future volumes which promise to go bigger. With descriptions focusing primarily on clothing, characters’ ethnicities are often indeterminate.
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play. (glossary) (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-09531-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Reminiscent of fairy tales and full of enchantment.
In this sequel to the 2022 series opener, Long Live the Pumpkin Queen by Shea Ernshaw, Sally must mend time itself.
It’s been a year since Sally married Jack Skellington and discovered her Dream Town origins, and she’s spread thin between performing her duties as Pumpkin Queen and managing relations among all the holiday realms. Arguments and misunderstandings have arisen between visitors and residents of each realm, so Sally proposes hosting cultural exhibitions to help smooth over their interactions, starting with one in Halloween Town. To help with the extra work, Sally takes on an apprentice—fellow rag doll Luna, a teen with dreams of going on adventures instead of following in the family business of writing bedtime stories. Chaos ensues during the festivities when a swapped potion ingredient opens a portal that sucks Sally and Luna into Time Town. Even worse, Halloween Town’s magical clock has been destroyed by a shadowy enemy, setting the realm’s timeline to the distant past. To get back to the Halloween Town of her present, Sally embarks on an adventure with Luna and their new friend, a dragon called Scorch. Sally, Luna, and Scorch make a fantastic trio, with Sally’s maturity and bravery contrasting with Luna’s wide-eyed youthfulness and Scorch’s desire to become a hero. Despite a slow start and stereotypical elements in some of the towns, the engaging lore and tense, thrilling race to fix time will engage readers.
Reminiscent of fairy tales and full of enchantment. (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: July 8, 2025
ISBN: 9781368089302
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Disney/Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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