Seventeen-year-old Liv has a secret nobody else knows: On her 13th birthday, she got her first period and turned into a wolf. Her parents responded to what they saw as their daughter's anger-management problems with Lexapro and Xanax, and she hasn't changed since. When a family of fierce, nigh-feral brothers moves to town, Liv's carefully protected secret life is endangered. As in most of Block's modern work, constant direct parallels are drawn between adolescence and monstrousness; Liv's lycanthropy parallels with menstrual blood, pubescent hair growth, adolescent anger and feelings of alienation. However, this werewolf story stands up as a strong narrative in its own right, even without the overwhelming metaphor. Liv would be more likable if she weren't so offensively self-centered (she's unwilling to introduce her black boyfriend to her mother, using her gay best friend as a cover boyfriend without considering both boys' distress). A passionate, dreamy, brief paranormal, with a breath-of-fresh-air monstrous heroine and enjoyably surreal set dressing—the best friend and boyfriend deserve better, though. (Paranormal romance. YA)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-192666-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2010
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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An emotionally engaging closer that fumbles in its final moments.
29
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Lara Jean prepares for college and a wedding.
Korean-American Lara Jean is finally settled into a nice, complication-free relationship with her white boyfriend, Peter. But things don’t stay simple for long. When college acceptance letters roll in, Peter and Lara Jean discover they’re heading in different directions. As the two discuss the long-distance thing, Lara Jean’s widower father is making a major commitment: marrying the neighbor lady he’s been dating. The whirlwind of a wedding, college visits, prom, and the last few months of senior year provides an excellent backdrop for this final book about Lara Jean. The characters ping from event to event with emotions always at the forefront. Han further develops her cast, pushing them to new maturity and leaving few stones unturned. There’s only one problem here, and it’s what’s always held this series back from true greatness: Peter. Despite Han’s best efforts to flesh out Peter with abandonment issues and a crummy dad, he remains little more than a handsome jock. Frankly, Lara Jean and Peter may have cute teen chemistry, but Han's nuanced characterizations have often helped to subvert typical teen love-story tropes. This knowing subversion is frustratingly absent from the novel's denouement.
An emotionally engaging closer that fumbles in its final moments. (Romance. 14-17)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3048-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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BOOK REVIEW
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A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning.
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Two teens train to be society-sanctioned killers in an otherwise immortal world.
On post-mortal Earth, humans live long (if not particularly passionate) lives without fear of disease, aging, or accidents. Operating independently of the governing AI (called the Thunderhead since it evolved from the cloud), scythes rely on 10 commandments, quotas, and their own moral codes to glean the population. After challenging Hon. Scythe Faraday, 16-year-olds Rowan Damisch and Citra Terranova reluctantly become his apprentices. Subjected to killcraft training, exposed to numerous executions, and discouraged from becoming allies or lovers, the two find themselves engaged in a fatal competition but equally determined to fight corruption and cruelty. The vivid and often violent action unfolds slowly, anchored in complex worldbuilding and propelled by political machinations and existential musings. Scythes’ journal entries accompany Rowan’s and Citra’s dual and dueling narratives, revealing both personal struggles and societal problems. The futuristic post–2042 MidMerican world is both dystopia and utopia, free of fear, unexpected death, and blatant racism—multiracial main characters discuss their diverse ethnic percentages rather than purity—but also lacking creativity, emotion, and purpose. Elegant and elegiac, brooding but imbued with gallows humor, Shusterman’s dark tale thrusts realistic, likable teens into a surreal situation and raises deep philosophic questions.
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning. (Science fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4424-7242-6
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
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