The Scandinavian atmosphere and engaging narrative voices uplift and deepen this magical boarding school story.
This trilogy opener, translated from the original Danish, brings together a restless spirit and four new friends investigating an unsolved murder.
Four protagonists narrate this well-written and well-conceived story. Wealthy, stylish, but haunted Victoria; prickly, direct Malou; insecure, unworldly Kirstine; and cozy, maternal Chamomile have been accepted as first-year students at Rosenholm Academy on Zealand. Not your average boarding school, Rosenholm teaches four branches of magic: Earth, Growth, Blood, and Death, and each student becomes a mage in one of them. Not unexpectedly (but helpfully for character development) Kirstine, Malou, Victoria, and Chamomile each have different mage abilities. In its narrative style as well as its emphasis on Norse mythology and magic, this one mostly walks its own path within a setting that holds evergreen appeal as a genre staple. As the story unfolds, Trine, the spirit who is haunting Victoria, reveals to the four girls during a séance that she was murdered at Rosenholm. Trine offers a mysterious warning and asks the friends to discover who killed her. The choice to alternate among the third-person perspectives of the different narrators works well, giving the novel a lively narrative lilt. Text messages, some cryptic, some not, liven up both the design and the intrigue factor. The ending sets up the next book in the series. Main characters read white.
The Scandinavian atmosphere and engaging narrative voices uplift and deepen this magical boarding school story. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781646900121
Page Count: 345
Publisher: Arctis Books
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty.
In this retelling of a classic, a drama student’s obsession with beauty leads her down a dark—and possibly deadly—path.
Eighteen-year-old Penny Paxton is beginning her first year at Dorian Drama Academy in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she hopes to follow in her starlet mother’s footsteps—and earn the love that her mother has never seemed to offer. At Dorian, Penny is mentored by Royal Shakespeare Company legend Orlagh Camran, who makes her the compelling offer of a portrait by the Masked Painter, a mysterious artist with the ability to gift his subjects everlasting youth and beauty. But shortly after Penny’s portrait is complete, several of the Masked Painter’s subjects are found murdered. Fearing that she’s made a terrible mistake and may become the next victim, Penny, who’s gay, begins to investigate the murders with the help of an unlikely ally. As she attempts to uncover the truth surrounding the Masked Painter and the murders, she’s forced to reckon with her own toxic obsession with beauty. This chilling, atmospheric novel, inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, is entertaining and full of twists, though some of the reveals feel contrived and some questions are left unanswered. The plot unravels at a leisurely pace but eventually builds to an action-packed (if somewhat convoluted) conclusion. Most characters are cued white.
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty. (content note, author’s note, bonus scene) (Fantasy thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781250346797
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
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