Part mystery, part horror, this sly, psuedo-Victorian graphic novel is heavy on style but light on plot. Mundane Laundromat owner Salem Brownstone receives a telegram announcing the death of his estranged father, Jedediah, and a taxi brings him to his father’s home, an eerie, Gothic mansion with a circus encampment nearby. Upstairs, Salem encounters circus performer Cassandra Contortionist, who implores him to protect Jed’s “scrying ball,” an artifact preventing evil spirits of the Midnight City from entering our world. The rest of the book is a tour through Singh’s realization of the lush and grotesque scenery of the mansion, the circus and the Midnight City itself, as the opposing forces battle for the scrying ball. Occasional visual jokes, like Cassandra’s series of plot-related T-shirts and a label on the mansion’s doorbell reading “Antiquated Doorbell Mechanism,” bring an undercurrent of irony to the story’s moody atmosphere. Readers who, like Salem, “love the rum and unusual, the uncanny, the macabre” will find much to appreciate in the artwork; those looking for a plot of similar depth will be disappointed. (Graphic novel. 14 & up)
Pub Date: July 13, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7636-4735-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2010
Insightful and creepy, if slightly uneven.
An autistic high schooler gets trapped in a nightmare when her friends disappear during a hike.
Cassie Davis hasn’t spoken to her best friends, Blake, Melody, and Jac, since she moved from middle-of-nowhere Deep Glen, New York, to New York City four years ago. She couldn’t tell them how her autism diagnosis and a breakdown led to her parents’ divorce, culminating in Cassie and her mother’s move back to Deep Glen. When her friends invite Cassie on their weeklong hike in the Catskills, Cassie agrees, hoping to mend their rifts. Instead, arguments abound, Cassie wakes to find Jac and Melody gone, and then a storm separates her from Blake. Fortunately, she’s rescued by handsome Kaleb, who invites her to take shelter in the Roost, an off-grid community. Kaleb and his mother understand Cassie better than her own mother, who pressures Cassie to overachieve even though her autism, anxiety, and trichotillomania overwhelm her. But why does it seem like they don’t want Cassie and her friends to reunite? Though some secondary characters feel underdeveloped and some plot points remain unresolved, Grothe’s debut novel viscerally depicts Cassie’s anger and discomfort as she grapples with self-doubt and the emotional toll of masking. Ominous crows and uncanny dolls deepen the uneasy atmosphere, which is further charged by romantic tension between Cassie, who’s pansexual, and Jac, who’s queer. Most characters read white, and Jac is Jewish.
Insightful and creepy, if slightly uneven. (Horror. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9781682637777
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Peachtree Teen
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
Brings much-needed inclusivity and contemporary flavor to the teen fantasy genre.
A teenager explores her magical connections to greenery and gods.
Briseis Greene is a Black high schooler with magical powers that she hides from most people save her adoptive mothers, Thandie and Angie. She has an innate connection to plants and is even able to grow them from seeds using just her mind and hands. Bri is curious about the source and extent of her powers, but after some mishaps, she is more fearful of the potential harm she could bring by tapping into them, so she refrains from exploring further. When she is surprised by news of an extensive estate near Rhinebeck that she has inherited from the recently deceased Circe Colchis, her late birth mother’s sister and someone whose existence she was previously unaware of, the three of them move from Brooklyn to upstate New York. Bri quickly grasps that her new home and the biological family she never knew have many more secrets in store for her—and in those secrets may lie answers to questions that she has had all her life. In this intriguing and well-paced novel, Bayron conjures a world filled with magic and mystery. Readers will share the protagonist’s curiosity about her powers and eagerness to uncover her history. Fans of retellings will enjoy this modern tale that reimagines stories of Greek gods and goddesses. Major characters are Black.
Brings much-needed inclusivity and contemporary flavor to the teen fantasy genre. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: June 29, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0390-9
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
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