Inventive and unexpected.
A scrappy survivor learns dangerous secrets in an artificial intelligence–heavy "post-apocalyptic hellscape."
In a devastated post–nuclear war North America where corporations reign supreme, radiation occasionally causes mutations, but the main impact is rampant cancer. What’s left of Kalifornya is an island called Dregs, where white teen Eve pilots a machina in the WarDome arena against bots that have malfunctioned and broken the First Law of Robotics (harming a human) in order to earn enough to cover her grandfather’s medication. When a match goes wrong and Eve is about to be killed, she lifts her hand and screams, causing the rogue robot to destruct—to her shock and everyone else’s. Unfortunately for Eve, Brotherhood fanatics exterminate “abnorms” and “deviates,” so she has to go on the run. She and her redheaded best friend, Lemon (a tiny girl with a big personality), find Ezekiel, an olive-skinned, blue-eyed “lifelike” (the most advanced androids ever made, but ones that broke free of robotic laws and slaughtered their creators). Hunted by multiple parties after the WarDome incident, Eve uncovers revelations about herself, thanks to Ezekiel, while also struggling to keep her loved ones alive. Between the worldbuilding, nonstop action, endless twists, and futuristic jargon, characters sometimes get lost in the shuffle. Refreshingly, romance and female friendship are given equal weight.
Inventive and unexpected. (Science fiction. 12-adult)Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-1392-8
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
An exciting and bittersweet ending to a compelling duology.
The gang gets back together after the catastrophic events of A Tempest of Tea (2024).
Arthie Casimir and her brother, Jin, managed to uncover the real identity of—and steal a ledger with incriminating evidence about—the Ram, monarch of Ettenia, but their crew, a mix of vampires and humans, is irrevocably changed. The revelation of a secret leads to a rift between the siblings, the Ram is still in power, and now humans are going missing, with blame unjustly falling on the vampires. To take down the colonizer of her birth country, Arthie must get everyone to work together again, travel back to her homeland of Ceylan, and pull off her most daring heists yet. With chapters alternating among the perspectives of Arthie, Jin, and Felicity “Flick” Linden—a skilled forger and Jin’s love interest—this genre mashup set in an intricate fantasy world combines exciting action and adventure, heartfelt romance, and complex paranormal beings, all while feeling relevant to real-world issues. The trio of non-white leads face racial prejudice among other hardships in a society that constantly underestimates them. The plot takes a little while to really get started, but once the action amps up, there are plenty of tense and impassioned moments. The ending satisfyingly wraps up the main conflicts and is sure to evoke a strong emotional response from invested readers.
An exciting and bittersweet ending to a compelling duology. (map) (Fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9780374389420
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
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