Nasty Prince Henry of the Seelie Court has come to Avalon, the city caught between the human realm and Faerie, to invite...
At last, Dana meets a Fae boy who doesn't want to sleep with her in this third in the Faeriewalker series, which began with Glimmerglass (2010).
Nasty Prince Henry of the Seelie Court has come to Avalon, the city caught between the human realm and Faerie, to invite half-human Dana to be formally presented at Court. Dana and her father are sure there's a deeper game at play—don't both Fae queens want Dana dead because of her dangerous Faeriewalker powers?—but she has no choice but to obey the summons. The journey from the incongruously modern Avalon (why do Faeries celebrate Christmas?) to the Seelie Court is chock-full of all the necessary adventures, from monster attacks to opportunities for heroic self-sacrifice. Dana finally exercises both her magical powers and her intelligence in order to help herself and her friends. And of course, there's plenty of opportunity for chest thumping among her various suitors. Dana's youthful narrative style can be disconcertingly at odds with the steaminess she describes ("I was smushed up against him… [and] painfully aware that he, uh, enjoyed having me there"); this realistic teen heroine has an occasionally bumpy meeting with romance conventions. But Dana's grim-but-hopeful interactions with her alcoholic mother ground this urban fantasy in a welcome verisimilitude.Pub Date: July 5, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-312-57595-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
A standard post-apocalyptic dystopia with enough rich worldbuilding to appeal to most lovers of the genre. Deuce is a Huntress trainee in the tunnels beneath the long-fallen ruins of New York City. Like the rest of the Hunters, Deuce wants only to provide her city with meat and protect it from the subhuman, zombielike Freaks. So why, oh, why did they need to appoint that weirdo Fade her hunting partner? He's from outside the enclave and never learned how to fit in the way Deuce wants to. With Fade by her side, Deuce can't help seeing cracks in the elders' façade of benevolent protectiveness. Soon the two must embark on a new adventure, to the not-so-abandoned city Topside. Up here, they need a whole new set of survival skills to protect them against everything from sunlight to violent gangs of rapists and thugs—not to mention the ever-present and growing packs of Freaks. The well-developed tension is marred only by recurring inexplicable references to what readers seem to be expected to recognize as one of the more obscure stories of Victorian fantasist George MacDonald, but these are only mild stumbling blocks. All in all, this well-paced zombie-esque adventure in an urban wasteland will keep fans happy. (Science fiction. 13-15)
Pub Date: April 12, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-312-65008-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2011
Teens who have outgrown Percy Jackson and moved into the paranormal-romance phase won't mind the amateurish prose; they'll...
What if Bella Swan were a demigod?
Helen is the loveliest girl on Nantucket, but until the sexy Delos family comes to the island, she's always tried to stay under the radar. It's not just her looks that attract attention; Helen knows her strength, speed and hearing all approach superpower levels. But she can't stay hidden in the presence of the Delos cousins, Jason, Hector, Cassandra, Ariadne and the sexiest one, Lucas—yes, Lucas. (Some complicated handwaving explains why he is named Lucas instead of—as was intended—Paris.) Readers trained on trendy Greek mythological fantasy won't be surprised to learn both Helen and the newcomers are demigods. In their blonde beauty (really!), they look exactly like their quasi-mythological ancestors and are cursed by the Furies and the gods to replay ancient dramas across history. Lucas and Helen are both drawn together and forced apart by fate and desire. The cousins, meanwhile, help Helen develop her powerful demigod abilities while tutoring her on the massive forces arrayed against her. Though weirdly inconsistent perspective, startling shifts of voice and scenes that feel like they've been copied almost directly from Twilight break the flow, the drama's epic scale complements the love story's pacing. A refreshingly strong heroine carries readers into the setup for book two.
Teens who have outgrown Percy Jackson and moved into the paranormal-romance phase won't mind the amateurish prose; they'll be caught up in the we-must-we-can't sexual tension. (Paranormal romance. 13-15)Pub Date: June 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-201199-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
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