In a future Britain, a stranglehold has been issued on cats after a human health epidemic is blamed on the feline population in this politically savvy, lightning-paced thriller.
Jade and her mum are misfits in their working-class neighborhood, where they’ve made their home since the unexpected death of Jade's wealthy father. When a lovely calico cat materializes in their garden one night, they impulsively decide to keep it, risking arrest. Jade quickly falls in love with her new pet, naming her Feela at her mother’s suggestion. When she reveals the animal’s existence to Kris, a boy in her class with whom she has a stormy relationship, it sets into motion a tragic series of events that result in the two of them fleeing with Feela into the countryside toward Ireland, where there's a cat amnesty. Penned in a simple, almost sparse style in first-person from Jade’s perspective, this foray into an imagined dystopia is extremely plot-driven. The limited details that emerge about the restrictive nature of the society flow naturally, but may leave readers wanting a bit more.
Earnest descriptions of Jade’s love for Feela and her burgeoning feelings for Kris—“It was if she sensed we were a pride now, a family, and our place was all together”—nicely balance the plentiful action. (Thriller. 12-16)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8075-4364-1
Page Count: 268
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: July 22, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
Categories: TEEN SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | TEEN ANIMALS
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BOOK REVIEW
The victory of Jacob and his fellow peculiars over the previous episode’s wights and hollowgasts turns out to be only one move in a larger game as Riggs (Tales of the Peculiar, 2016, etc.) shifts the scene to America.
Reading largely as a setup for a new (if not exactly original) story arc, the tale commences just after Jacob’s timely rescue from his decidedly hostile parents. Following aimless visits back to newly liberated Devil’s Acre and perfunctory normalling lessons for his magically talented friends, Jacob eventually sets out on a road trip to find and recruit Noor, a powerful but imperiled young peculiar of Asian Indian ancestry. Along the way he encounters a semilawless patchwork of peculiar gangs, syndicates, and isolated small communities—many at loggerheads, some in the midst of negotiating a tentative alliance with the Ymbryne Council, but all threatened by the shadowy Organization. The by-now-tangled skein of rivalries, romantic troubles, and family issues continues to ravel amid bursts of savage violence and low comedy (“I had never seen an invisible person throw up before,” Jacob writes, “and it was something I won’t soon forget”). A fresh set of found snapshots serves, as before, to add an eldritch atmosphere to each set of incidents. The cast defaults to white but includes several people of color with active roles.
Not much forward momentum but a tasty array of chills, thrills, and chortles. (Horror/Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7352-3214-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Sept. 2, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2018
Categories: TEEN SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | TEEN PARANORMAL & SUPERNATURAL | TEEN FICTION
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BOOK REVIEW
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
Categories: TEEN FICTION | TEEN SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | TEEN ROMANCE
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