This lackluster debut combines familiar elements into a tale neither rare nor wonderful, despite some acclaim in its native Britain.
The formula is simple: war-torn country, power-mad leader (one of 13, technically), young person with unexpected powers who might be the answer to everything. But heroine Kate Winters never shows much pluck: She may wield significant power, though generally with little sense of how, and spends most of her time listening to other characters spout lengthy exposition. There is no purpose to power-mad leader Da’ru beyond her hunger for control. And although graveyard/city Fume is fascinating and the magic of Fume (bonemen, magical locks powered by spirits) hints at great powers of invention, Albion as a whole remains unknowable. What is the war, and why? How, in this pre-industrialized world with no commercial ties to “the continent,” does a bookstore make for a viable living? Enigmatic, deathless Silas Dane comes across as the most nuanced of the characters, and his cold alliance with Kate is the heart of the novel, but Kate’s narrative perspective keeps him at a distance.
Mediocre, but flashes of inspiration indicate Burtenshaw’s potential, as yet untapped. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: July 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202642-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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Riggs spins a gothic tale of strangely gifted children and the monsters that pursue them from a set of eerie, old trick photographs.
The brutal murder of his grandfather and a glimpse of a man with a mouth full of tentacles prompts months of nightmares and psychotherapy for 15-year-old Jacob, followed by a visit to a remote Welsh island where, his grandfather had always claimed, there lived children who could fly, lift boulders and display like weird abilities. The stories turn out to be true—but Jacob discovers that he has unwittingly exposed the sheltered “peculiar spirits” (of which he turns out to be one) and their werefalcon protector to a murderous hollowgast and its shape-changing servant wight. The interspersed photographs—gathered at flea markets and from collectors—nearly all seem to have been created in the late 19th or early 20th centuries and generally feature stone-faced figures, mostly children, in inscrutable costumes and situations. They are seen floating in the air, posing with a disreputable-looking Santa, covered in bees, dressed in rags and kneeling on a bomb, among other surreal images. Though Jacob’s overdeveloped back story gives the tale a slow start, the pictures add an eldritch element from the early going, and along with creepy bad guys, the author tucks in suspenseful chases and splashes of gore as he goes. He also whirls a major storm, flying bullets and a time loop into a wild climax that leaves Jacob poised for the sequel.
A trilogy opener both rich and strange, if heavy at the front end. (Horror/fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: June 7, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59474-476-1
Page Count: 234
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2014
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