A meandering story lacking momentum.
In 1965 San Francisco, high school senior Blake Estancia is plagued by cryptic visions.
Magic runs in Blake’s family, but it has barely manifested in her. Unlike her telekinetic maternal grandmother, Zora, introduced in Dhonielle Clayton’s Shattered Midnight (2022), or her healer abuela, the teen’s power is relatively unimpressive: She receives abstract impressions when touching an object. Resigned to this, Blake focuses on becoming a professional artist, but it’s not easy for a young woman to break into the male-dominated art world. When startling visions begin appearing—first in her dreams and then in her waking hours—Blake turns to the aunt and uncle who raised her after her parents’ deaths for answers. She learns the truth about a family curse and a lost magic heirloom: her grandfather Phillip’s mirror. Blaming the curse for the many tragedies in her family’s history, Blake decides to break it by following the clues in her visions to find the mirror. She’s accompanied by her best friend, Olivia, and a British boy named Ian whose immediate connection with Blake seems fated. The book’s inherent suspense and initial forward motion are stalled by Blake’s unfamiliarity with her family history. When she begins her investigation into the curse, she finds fragments of answers, random breadcrumbs lacking in context that lead to a sudden and not quite conclusive ending. Blake’s mother was biracial (Black and White), and her father was Mexican.
A meandering story lacking momentum. (Historical fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: July 19, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-368-04640-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations.
Magic, mystery, and love intertwine and invite in this newest take on the “enchanted circus” trope.
Sisters raised by their abusive father, a governor of a colonial backwater in a world vaguely reminiscent of the late 18th century, Scarlett and Donatella each long for something more. Scarlett, olive-skinned, dark of hair and attitude, longs for Caraval, the fabled, magical circus helmed by the possibly evil Master Legend Santos, while blonde, sunny Tella finds comfort in drink and the embraces of various men. A slightly awkward start, with inconsistencies of attitude and setting, rapidly smooths out when they, along with handsome “golden-brown” sailor Julian, flee to Caraval on the eve of Scarlett’s arranged marriage. Tella disappears, and Scarlett must navigate a nighttime world of magic to find her. Caraval delights the senses: beautiful and scary, described in luscious prose, this is a show readers will wish they could enter. Dresses can be purchased for secrets or days of life; clocks can become doors; bridges move: this is an inventive and original circus, laced with an edge of horror. A double love story, one sensual romance and the other sisterly loyalty, anchors the plot, but the real star here is Caraval and its secrets.
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations. (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-09525-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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