A fast-paced race to a satisfying, winning end.
Six witches get caught up in the excitement and danger of illegal broom racing in an alternate historical Mississippi.
In a world where children with magic are taken to the colonizing government’s schools, sisters Mattie and Emma are drawn to broom racing’s potential to help support their family and save themselves. Luella, whose magic was bound by the government after an incident in the residential school she was forced to attend, is their teacher and guide. Their team, the Night Storms, includes Billie Mae and Loretta, who read Black, and Cheng Kwan, who is transgender. They fight discrimination and overcome sabotage to win their races and their freedom. The author’s note describes the cast’s identities: Mattie and Emma are Choctaw and Black, Luella is Mexican and Choctaw, Chinese American Cheng Kwan speaks Cantonese, and Loretta, who uses a leg brace, has had a stroke. Emma, who is deaf, uses sign language and some lip-reading. This range in representation accurately highlights the broadly diverse experiences of folks in the South. There are also loving and intentionally presented queer relationships and experiences, highlighting the fact that there has always been and will always be room for queer folks in our communities. DuVall’s beautiful art is clean and luminous but so understated that it’s hard at times to follow the setting and characters through the panels. A scrapbook-style epilogue showing the witches’ futures is heartwarming and uplifting, however.
A fast-paced race to a satisfying, winning end. (Graphic fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2023
ISBN: 9781646142675
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Levine Querido
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in.
Black is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy.
Jude—broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness—has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others. Fierce and observant Jude is utterly unaware of the currents that swirl around her. She fights, plots, even murders enemies, but she must also navigate her relationship with her complex family (human, Faerie, and mixed). This is a heady blend of Faerie lore, high fantasy, and high school drama, dripping with description that brings the dangerous but tempting world of Faerie to life.
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-31027-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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