A resonant blend of teen drama and SF adventure.
In this YA novel, four disparate schoolmates must team up to survive a deadly contest involving time traveling.
A few years have passed since Finn Mallory lost his parents to a car accident. Now 16 years old, Finn is on full scholarship at an elite boarding school. Most of his fellow students look down on him. One exception is the school’s social queen, Everly Caldwell, who is also an orphan. Unfortunately, Finn mistakes her friendliness for ridicule and rebuffs her overtures—a self-sabotage that recurs throughout the story. Finn and Everly are soon thrown together as part of the school’s Young Historians Club, an extracurricular group run by the girl’s grandfather. There are only two other members: confident go-getter Valerie Konrad and Finn’s high-functioning autistic roommate, Edison Pellegrin. Together, the Young Historians will compete in the Time Trials—a secretive contest that sees teams from four schools travel back in time and interact with history. The past itself cannot be changed, yet the trials are not without risk to the participants. Injury is entirely possible—even death. Can Finn come to terms with his own inner demons, or will the trials be his undoing? The McConnells, a husband-and-wife team, structure an engaging, third-person narrative, primarily from Finn’s point of view but occasionally moving to that of one of the other protagonists. The prose is polished and the dialogue unobtrusive, allowing the characters to stand out. The authors present an unusual take on time travel and causality. The trials’ organizers (the voyeuristic, coldhearted timekeepers) offer plenty of intrigue along with steampunk vibes, while the central tenet—that history is inviolable save for how it affects the individual—is a master stroke, especially when combined with issues of teenage trauma and self-esteem. In bringing these themes to light, grunge guitar–playing Finn is a natural viewpoint character. At times, he fluctuates too wildly and quickly toward self-defeatism, but this is representative of a more general heightening of character traits. (The exaggeration is more evident in some players than others.) Though well executed thematically, the book’s ending is too abrupt. Nonetheless, adolescent readers will love the journey and thrill at the prospect of a sequel.
A resonant blend of teen drama and SF adventure.Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-946501-69-1
Page Count: 330
Publisher: Tiny Fox Press LLC
Review Posted Online: March 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression.
After surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself.
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself; her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out; her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply; and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her—who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves—Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way "girls who write their pain on their bodies" scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together.
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93471-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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