Takes on complex issues but doesn’t deliver with depth.
A struggling teenager finds herself abroad.
Eighteen-year-old Tally Gelmont and her twin brother, Max, are off to visit Israel for the first time, on a trip that is not Birthright but shares a lot of similarities with that common Jewish program. Max has been depressed ever since he survived a drunken driving accident; Tally, for her part, is still pretending like she’s unaffected by the incident even though she is dealing with chronic anxiety as well as burgeoning questions about her sexuality. Aside from the setting, this novel has a cookie-cutter vibe: Tally’s interest in musical theater feels tacked on rather than being a well-developed element of her character, and there’s a stereotypical Black new-best-friend character, Jewish Ethiopian American Saron, who exudes one-note Manic Pixie Dream Girl energy (and who calls her “Tally Mark” to the point of annoyance). The novel also includes plenty of earnest conversations between underdeveloped supporting characters during which they blandly discuss their identities (including the White Gelmont twins’ patrilineal Jewish heritage; their mother is Catholic). Tally’s process of discovering her demisexuality just before Jerusalem Pride makes for a very flat climax. The rest of the story is a cheerful "#IVEGOTCHUTZPAH" tour through Israel, occasionally acknowledging the existence of Palestinians, although despite a few moments when the characters comment that “the history is complicated,” the subject is not fully explored.
Takes on complex issues but doesn’t deliver with depth. (author's note) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0709-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
A rare second volume that surpasses the first, with, happily, more intrigue and passion still to come.
A heady blend of courtly double-crossing, Faerie lore, and toxic attraction swirls together in the sequel to The Cruel Prince (2018).
Five months after engineering a coup, human teen Jude is starting to feel the strain of secretly controlling King Cardan and running his Faerie kingdom. Jude’s self-loathing and anger at the traumatic events of her childhood (her Faerie “dad” killed her parents, and Faerie is not a particularly easy place even for the best-adjusted human) drive her ambition, which is tempered by her desire to make the world she loves and hates a little fairer. Much of the story revolves around plotting (the Queen of the Undersea wants the throne; Jude’s Faerie father wants power; Jude’s twin, Taryn, wants her Faerie betrothed by her side), but the underlying tension—sexual and political—between Jude and Cardan also takes some unexpected twists. Black’s writing is both contemporary and classic; her world is, at this point, intensely well-realized, so that some plot twists seem almost inevitable. Faerie is a strange place where immortal, multihued, multiformed denizens can’t lie but can twist everything; Jude—who can lie—is an outlier, and her first-person, present-tense narration reveals more than she would choose. With curly dark brown hair, Jude and Taryn are never identified by race in human terms.
A rare second volume that surpasses the first, with, happily, more intrigue and passion still to come. (map) (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-316-31035-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2018
An enticing, turbulent, and satisfying final voyage.
Adrian, the youngest of the Montague siblings, sails into tumultuous waters in search of answers about himself, the sudden death of his mother, and her mysterious, cracked spyglass.
On the summer solstice less than a year ago, Caroline Montague fell off a cliff in Aberdeen into the sea. When the Scottish hostel where she was staying sends a box of her left-behind belongings to London, Adrian—an anxious, White nobleman on the cusp of joining Parliament—discovers one of his mother’s most treasured possessions, an antique spyglass. She acquired it when she was the sole survivor of a shipwreck many years earlier. His mother always carried that spyglass with her, but on the day of her death, she had left it behind in her room. Although he never knew its full significance, Adrian is haunted by new questions and is certain the spyglass will lead him to the truth. Once again, Lee crafts an absorbing adventure with dangerous stakes, dynamic character growth, sharp social and political commentary, and a storm of emotion. Inseparable from his external search for answers about his mother, Adrian seeks a solution for himself, an end to his struggle with mental illness—a journey handled with hopeful, gentle honesty that validates the experiences of both good and bad days. Characters from the first two books play significant secondary roles, and the resolution ties up their loose ends. Humorous antics provide a well-measured balance with the heavier themes.
An enticing, turbulent, and satisfying final voyage. (Historical fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-291601-3
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2021
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