A creative exploration of a magical tapestry.
In Birch’s debut, a golem’s world is upended when she meets a witch.
Terra Slater is anticipating senior year—applying to college, making memories with friends—when her normal life suddenly takes an unexpected turn. At the Labor Day parade, she’s confronted by the mysterious Thorne Wilder, a rare new arrival in North Heights. Despite a rocky start, once Thorne reveals to Terra that she’s really a golem they form an unlikely alliance. Thorne is an apprentice witch who’s working for a coven that ensures that “magic is used honorably”—he’s on a mission to find and capture the notorious missing warlock Cyrus Quill, who perpetrated a crime generations ago. Terra knows Mr. Quill as the town’s adoption lawyer, but he actually created the golem teenagers who populate the small, bucolic town, all of whom were adopted. As Terra unravels her origin story, learning that she too has magical abilities, she must keep this history a secret until she accomplishes the one thing that will either save or destroy them all: assist Thorne in bringing Quill in, even if it means the end of Terra and the other golem teens. Romance, family, mystery, trust, and betrayal weave seamlessly throughout this highly imaginative story of survival and sacrifice, which has humanity at its thoughtful core. Most characters are cued white. Golems’ connection to Jewish folklore doesn’t arise in the book.
A creative exploration of a magical tapestry. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Aug. 12, 2025
ISBN: 9781250365460
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in.
Black is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy.
Jude—broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness—has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others. Fierce and observant Jude is utterly unaware of the currents that swirl around her. She fights, plots, even murders enemies, but she must also navigate her relationship with her complex family (human, Faerie, and mixed). This is a heady blend of Faerie lore, high fantasy, and high school drama, dripping with description that brings the dangerous but tempting world of Faerie to life.
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-31027-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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