A story about a revolution should be exciting—this one is not.
The daughter of a rebel leader and the son of a powerful feudal politician evaluate their potential roles in a revolution.
Aeren’s governance is based on a feudalistic caste structure in which privileged, land-owning Zunft largely exploit the working-class cottagers. The novel opens as Tamsin Henry follows her father’s command to set a dockside warehouse on fire, part of his planned Aug. 5 revolution. In the process she’s injured, and when Tommy, the son of a high-ranking politician, finds her unconscious in the woods, he rescues her, exposing his cottager sympathies. Soon the initial revolution fails, and the leaders, including Tamsin’s father, are held in jail as civil unrest continues to grow. When Tamsin is sent to recuperate in the capital city, where Tommy attends boarding school, she exposes him to the truth of his father’s cruelty. But both Tamsin and Tommy spend too much time dealing with fairly uninteresting daddy-angst, making their eventual transformations into revolutionary leaders implausible. The underdeveloped character voices also sap the chemistry from both a flat romance between Tamsin and a reporter and Tommy’s bland friendship with some fellow students. The early-industrial setting—newspapers are printed with presses, and no modern means of communication exist—includes a few steampunk flourishes that add little to the worldbuilding.
A story about a revolution should be exciting—this one is not. (Fantasy. 12-15)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-374-38264-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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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