An imaginative, if sobering tale of young self-discovery and the emotional power of music.
A young American woman with the power of premonition seeks answers about her father in England in Hawkins’ YA novel.
Teenage Josephine “Jo” Bryantgrieves her musician father’s death by suicide, feeling emotionally unmoored and having many questions. Therapy and medications don’t help her, and she pulls away from her mother and her friends. However, she also begins to have vivid premonitions that often come true. When she dreams of seeing her father in London, where he lived, she knows she must go there. Jo gets the opportunity to do so the summer before her senior year of high school, and there, she finds an ally in a young man named Henry who’s on his own quest to communicate with the dead, using spiritual ley lines to locate places that are “windows between the past and present.” Jo eventually finds many answers, but they’re not the ones that she was expecting. Hawkins wisely allows Jo to tell her own story, but she also includes text threads between Jo and loved ones back home, which effectively allows those characters to speak for themselves. Jo is a Beatles fan largely because her father performed in a Fab Four cover band, and Hawkins nicely weaves musical material into the story; Jo visits many fan sites, even traveling to Liverpool, and the novel and its chapters are named for relevant Beatles lyrics or song titles. The story doesn’t go down like a fizzy pop song though; its feel is more Revolver than Meet the Beatles. Although it’s unquestionably a romance, and some of the twists are humorous, much of the story hangs on betrayal and emotional abuse. Jo’s struggles to overcome and understand what’s happened in her life are moving and realistic, if a bit dark. Although many issues are deftly left unresolved, ultimately readers will feel satisfied.
An imaginative, if sobering tale of young self-discovery and the emotional power of music.Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2021
ISBN: 9781945654787
Page Count: 313
Publisher: Owl Hollow Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Returning fans, anyway, will pounce.
Houck kicks off a new story arc in the world of the Tiger’s Curse series with new tigers who live in a northerly setting.
The death of their widowed royal mother touches off a crisis in the Kievian Empire; neither Stacia nor Verusha Stepanov, 17-year-old sword-wielding twin sisters, wants to be named tsarina. But questions of succession get put on hold when a battle with a sorcerer inexplicably turns the two into nonspeaking Siberian tigers. Hints of a cure send them, along with a growing entourage of men to provide assistance (and, perforce, do all the talking), on a long trek. Though most of the cast sticks to genre type, Houck throws in a wild card in the form of hunky, inarticulate Nikolai, who joins the quest because he is enthralled by Verusha—and who also killed his whole family in an act of revenge. Occasional anachronistic dialogue (e.g., “Are you ready, ladies?”) disrupts the tale’s generally earnest tone, as do the clumsy attempts at banter. A third tiger, snarky and blind but conveniently able to see through others’ eyes, trots in late in the story. The events in this setup volume unfold with many a flashback and change in point of view and head toward no sort of resolution—only the cave-dwelling White Shaman of the Tundra’s advice that further journeys are in the offing. The central cast in this Russian-inspired fantasy world presents white; the Indigenous population includes nomadic reindeer herders.
Returning fans, anyway, will pounce. (Fantasy. 13-16)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9798212221696
Page Count: 350
Publisher: Blackstone
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
A fantastical romp filled with intrigue and suspense.
Amid the approaching coronation of her cruel half brother, Jura, and agitation by pro-democracy rebels called the Dawnbreakers, Princess Teia Carthan of Erisia carves out her own fate.
Following her parents’ death, Teia learned to fight. In addition to being able to wield fire and water, she’s not above resorting to blackmail, bribery, and murder to ensure her survival. Through master thief Enna, she learns that Jura is after the Dawnbreakers’ symbolic figurehead: Kyra Medoh, a young woman said to be able to control fire, a skill believed to be passed down through the royal lineage. When Teia intercepts Kyra after the thief infiltrates the Golden Palace, the princess tells her she wants to join the Dawnbreakers. Teia plans to gain Kyra’s trust, discover the location of the Dawnbreakers’ base, and use this information as leverage with Jura to get out of the betrothal he’s arranged for her to an abusive murderer. As Teia works undercover, her camaraderie with and attraction to Dawnbreaker Tobias grows, and, moved by Kyra’s idealism, she starts to question her own motivations. Debut author Wang’s tightly written narrative deftly unravels surprising twists and intrigues. While several characters in this duology opener appear too eager to spill their deepest secrets, readers will forgive this weakness and anticipate the second volume. Teia’s mother came from the country of Shaylan; her skin tone is darker than most Erisians’. Kyra has coppery skin and black hair.
A fantastical romp filled with intrigue and suspense. (Fantasy. 13-17)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781959411772
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Violetear Books/Bindery
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
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