Intermittently bewitching.
Surviving under a brutal dictatorship, teen witches uncover sinister plots and budding powers during their first year of college.
Adjusting to Fletcher University proves harsh for the Buenas Malas coven. The foursome, who read Latine—Lucy, Sirena, and twin sisters Clara and Fabiola—enter the prestigious school for the elite as New American Continent scholarship students, an honor that comes with brutally high expectations that force them to continually demonstrate their worth. Further dangers loom over the young witches thanks to the oppressive rule of the Path, a profit-oriented regime that has outlawed magic and champions its version of “meritocracy” at all costs. When the Buenas Malas discover a portal on campus that leads to a hidden forest, the spirited witches realize that magic seems to pop up in unexpected ways at Fletcher. Then Lucy’s roommate, who might possess magic as well, disappears. As the coven unmasks the sinister forces and secrets that lurk in the shadows, they must depend on their powers to find their way forward. A subplot involving Lucy’s conflicted feelings for both Sirena and a frat boy adds an intriguing layer that fizzles out due to her underdeveloped relationships with both potential love interests. Readers might spot real-life parallels to the Path’s autocratic edicts, but the ruling bogeymen never fully gel as a credible threat. Still, Muñoz succeeds in weaving a tale of engaging witches and cool magic feats. Fabiola is cued transgender.
Intermittently bewitching. (Dystopian. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9780823458370
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
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 thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning.
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 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
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