Not a meal but an entertainingly tasty snack on the light side of the genre.
With well-earned cynicism, high school junior Jillian is trying to carry on Umbra Investigations, her absent father’s business and area of “expertise”: he’s a paranormal researcher, or, in Jillian’s words, a trafficker “in bullshit.”
She doesn’t believe a scrap of it, but she needs to pay the bills—particularly the electricity, as they have cut her power off. Though the book opens with a hokey and cynical interaction with a client, the stakes rise quickly with the arrival of gorgeous and flirty Sky Ramsey, who horns his way into her investigation into a missing person, possibly abducted by a succubus. Adventures, sometimes violent, and romance ensue. Jillian’s angry at her dad’s abandonment of her (to gather paranormal artifacts from around the world) after the death of her mother, and she hates the babble that has surrounded her most of her life. This combination of feisty and hurt provides Jillian with a somewhat stock appeal. The increasingly weird case tests her assumptions about more than the paranormal, taking readers straight into a world of unexplained phenomena and leading Jillian to understand both her history and herself a little bit better. Some revelations are telegraphed, while others sneak in. Klein builds her underworld with both logic and farce, paralleling Jillian’s own skepticism and quick wit.
Not a meal but an entertainingly tasty snack on the light side of the genre. (Paranormal romance. 12-15)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-61695-434-5
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Soho Teen
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes
A gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.
Fifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting—plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers—escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel.
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes . (Science fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25675-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK TO SCREEN
A somewhat entertaining, fast-paced journey that fizzles at the end.
A teenager runs away to Seattle, hoping to locate her missing sister.
Fifteen-year-old Eleanor idolizes her older sister, Sam, despite their being complete opposites: Sam is outgoing and wild, while socially awkward Eleanor is known as Little Miss Perfect, always doing the right and safe thing. After Sam runs away from home, the only communication she has with Eleanor are three postcards sent from Seattle. Eleanor decides to trace her 18-year-old sister’s footsteps, leaving her messages and hopping on a bus to find her. But when Sam doesn’t meet her at the bus depot, Eleanor, who has no real plan, has to learn how to survive on her own while searching the city for her sister. While the close bond between the girls is well depicted through flashbacks, the reveal of an important secret ultimately feels anticlimactic. A major plot point relies too heavily on chance and coincidence to be fully believable. While the color scheme, cityscapes, and background illustrations are atmospheric, the manga-inspired drawing style comes across as dated and flat. The depiction of the fabricated stories Eleanor tells is intriguing, as are the themes of friendship, living in the moment, and maintaining hope; unfortunately, none are thematically strong enough to resonate. The emotional impact of Eleanor’s experiences is diluted by her at times humorous narration. Eleanor and the main cast read as White.
A somewhat entertaining, fast-paced journey that fizzles at the end. (Graphic novel. 12-15)Pub Date: April 26, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-50023-4
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2022
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