Fans of Anastasiu’s science-fiction trilogy who grew to love Zoe in all her telekinetic, girl-power glory, particularly in Override (2013), will likely feel cheated by the final installment.
As the Chancellor closes in on the Rez, destroying their base and forcing the surviving resistance fighters to disband and seek refuge on the Surface, Zoe and Adrien’s only hope of outrunning the Regulators and reuniting their misfit band of freedom fighters is to work together. This should be the perfect setup for more of the steamy love scenes and high-stakes action that made the second book in the series such a great read, but fans shouldn’t get their hopes up. Still recovering from his lobotomy, Adrien has no memory of his love for Zoe and spends the better part of the novel recoiling from her touch. Not that this deters Zoe from trying and getting burned time and again. Though her telekinesis allows her to do some pretty cool stunt work when she needs to, Zoe spends far too much time bemoaning the loss of Adrien’s affections. When she isn’t pining about what could have been, she’s a physical wreck, dependent on Aiden to survive.
With far too few glimpses of the self-confident freedom fighter readers have come to expect, Zoe goes from girl on fire to girl you want to set on fire. (Dystopian romance. 14 & up)Pub Date: July 2, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-250-00301-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: May 21, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
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This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression.
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After surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself.
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself; her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out; her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply; and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her—who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves—Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way "girls who write their pain on their bodies" scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together.
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93471-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION
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A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
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