Though flawed, this first volume in a new trilogy has much to offer genre enthusiasts.
Hokk scavenges the dead bodies falling from the sky, but when he finds one alive, everything changes.
An unusual twist on the post-apocalyptic theme finds humanity split into two races. Above, on the floating islands, dark-skinned humans live separated by class and surrounded by mythology. Below, the pale-skinned people crowd into the burned-out cities or try to survive in the vast wastelands. Other than the occasional dead body or trinket dropped from above, the two civilizations have no contact. That’s until Hokk, serving out a sentence of exile in the wastelands, finds Elia, who has miraculously survived her plummet from her island home. Charged with the safekeeping of a mysterious box, Elia is desperate to return to her island. Hokk has other plans. The third-person narration switches focus between the two, giving readers insight into their thoughts and motivations. Hokk’s duplicity and amorality make him an unsympathetic hero. Elia is similarly hampered by her frustrating naiveté. Worldbuilding inconsistencies abound. Below, grasses grow without sunlight, and the agrarian civilization Above exists without rain; a telescope is proclaimed “a miracle” in a society with working elevators. Still, although it meanders at times, the novel eventually finds its way to a satisfying conclusion and setup for Volume 2.
Though flawed, this first volume in a new trilogy has much to offer genre enthusiasts. (Post-apocalyptic adventure. 12-16)Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-68162-601-7
Page Count: 308
Publisher: Turner
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A smart, timely outing.
Two teens connect through a mysterious podcast in this sophomore effort by British author Oseman (Solitaire, 2015).
Frances Janvier is a 17-year-old British-Ethiopian head girl who is so driven to get into Cambridge that she mostly forgoes friendships for schoolwork. Her only self-indulgence is listening to and creating fan art for the podcast Universe City, “a…show about a suit-wearing student detective looking for a way to escape a sci-fi, monster-infested university.” Aled Last is a quiet white boy who identifies as “partly asexual.” When Frances discovers that Aled is the secret creator of Universe City, the two embark on a passionate, platonic relationship based on their joint love of pop culture. Their bond is complicated by Aled’s controlling mother and by Frances’ previous crush on Aled’s twin sister, Carys, who ran away last year and disappeared. When Aled’s identity is accidently leaked to the Universe City fandom, he severs his relationship with Frances, leaving her questioning her Cambridge goals and determined to win back his affection, no matter what the cost. Frances’ narration is keenly intelligent; she takes mordant pleasure in using an Indian friend’s ID to get into a club despite the fact they look nothing alike: “Gotta love white people.” Though the social-media–suffused plot occasionally lags, the main characters’ realistic relationship accurately depicts current issues of gender, race, and class.
A smart, timely outing. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: March 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-233571-5
Page Count: 496
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful.
January 1945: as Russians advance through East Prussia, four teens’ lives converge in hopes of escape.
Returning to the successful formula of her highly lauded debut, Between Shades of Gray (2011), Sepetys combines research (described in extensive backmatter) with well-crafted fiction to bring to life another little-known story: the sinking (from Soviet torpedoes) of the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff. Told in four alternating voices—Lithuanian nurse Joana, Polish Emilia, Prussian forger Florian, and German soldier Alfred—with often contemporary cadences, this stints on neither history nor fiction. The three sympathetic refugees and their motley companions (especially an orphaned boy and an elderly shoemaker) make it clear that while the Gustloff was a German ship full of German civilians and soldiers during World War II, its sinking was still a tragedy. Only Alfred, stationed on the Gustloff, lacks sympathy; almost a caricature, he is self-delusional, unlikable, a Hitler worshiper. As a vehicle for exposition, however, and a reminder of Germany’s role in the war, he serves an invaluable purpose that almost makes up for the mustache-twirling quality of his petty villainy. The inevitability of the ending (including the loss of several characters) doesn’t change its poignancy, and the short chapters and slowly revealed back stories for each character guarantee the pages keep turning.
Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful. (author’s note, research and sources, maps) (Historical fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-16030-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
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