Well drawn characters on a rousing adventure reminiscent of Indiana Jones’ exploits.
In Smallidge's YA thriller, a 13-year-old adventurer and her archeologist mother become entangled in a deadly mystery at a remote dig site in the Middle East.
With seventh grade officially concluded, Bostonian teen Isabelle Night is looking forward to summer vacation, when she can do absolutely nothing. But when her mother Annaliese—the head archaeologist for the Massachusetts Arts and Antiquities Museum in Boston and an expert in ancient cultural folklore—is asked to help a friend at a Syrian excavation site, Isabell’s planned “summer of nothing” suddenly becomes anything but. Once at the site, Isabelle and her mother learn that the team, led by Annaliese’s longtime friend and University of Munich archaeology professor Gunther Braun, has uncovered an api—a Well of the Netherworld. (“Only eyes trained in archaeology would have known this had once been a tightly constructed wall. A wall to protect those outside from falling in, or a wall to keep something inside from coming out? Isabelle wondered.”) When dangerous-looking men associated with a secret cabal show up looking for an artifact known as the Queen’s Flute, and people begin disappearing around the sinister hole in the ground, Isabelle and her mother realize, too late, that the well is a portal to another dimension, one inhabited by demons—and that the missing artifact is the only thing that could possibly stop nightmarish creatures from walking the earth. All the elements are here for an unputdownable read—breakneck pacing, nonstop action, and impressive plot twists—but the focus on character development and relationship dynamics is the story’s real strength. Isabelle’s close bond with her mother and her tenuous connection with her deadbeat father, Carmichael (who also works in the archaeology field), lend the narrative emotional depth and authenticity. Isabelle’s budding relationship with Braun’s grandson Will adds a subtle romance element as well.
Well drawn characters on a rousing adventure reminiscent of Indiana Jones’ exploits.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
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
BOOK REVIEW
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
