A diverting adventure combining a present-day setting with magic-infused, medieval-style battles.
In Day’s YA fantasy, the mythological Arthur Pendragon is a modern-day teen who must get back to eighth-century Camelot to claim his throne.
Merlin the wizard and Sir Lancelot time travel from 773 C.E. to present-day New York, where they locate a youth named Art Penn. Art has survived on the streets for some time after his foster parents kicked him out of their home; he washes dishes at a diner and lives at a shelter. He has trouble believing Merlin’s claim that the wizard hid the infant Art in this era to protect him from someone trying to kill him in his own time. But Camelot’s king (Art’s birth father) is now dead, and the teen’s half-sister, sorceress Morgan Le Fay, has seized the throne that’s rightfully Art’s. Morgan time-travels her way to the present, too, and goes to great lengths to eliminate her half brother. While Merlin and Lancelot fight to get Art back to their time, Art’s 17-year-old girlfriend Kate Cambridge must decide if she’s willing to join him and leave her life behind. Day delivers a fast-paced standalone tale with Art and the others constantly evading Morgan and fending off her attacks. The narrative maintains suspense—Morgan’s “shape-change” ability makes her unpredictable, and Art, once he’s in Camelot, still needs to retrieve the powerful, anvil-embedded sword Excalibur. The author injects humor into the story throughout; for example, Morgan’s minion Crow (whose cawing she understands) stamps most of his comments with sarcastic addresses from “Your Royal Svelteness” to “Your Royal Tastelessness” (on account of her flashy attire). Likewise, the time travelers often find themselves amusingly in awe of contemporary tech, including cell phones, a VR headset, and those horseless, moving “metal boxes.” While Art is a likable hero and Kate proves herself a self-sufficient possible future queen, the fashionable and flaming-red-haired Morgan steals the novel with her tenacity and inventive murder attempts.
A diverting adventure combining a present-day setting with magic-infused, medieval-style battles.Pub Date: Dec. 9, 2024
ISBN: 9798985434934
Page Count: 230
Publisher: Artists Gate Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
Somberly beautiful.
A girl goes in search of her missing sister and discovers a strange hidden world of dreams.
Corin, who’s 18 and dark-skinned, strives to protect her 12-year-old sister, Elly. But life as a thief is full of struggle, poverty, and loss, even without Corin’s avoidance of other relationships. Elly clings to the promise of fairy tales, like the one that says a princess lies sleeping in an underground castle after pricking her finger on a spindle. After the sisters fight and Elly runs off, Corin searches for her in Gyldan’s old network of tunnels—and finds the tale is true: Cursed Princess Amelia, golden-haired, with eyes like “sea glass” and porcelain skin, lies asleep, surrounded by flowers. Corin enters the princess’ dreamworld—the place “where your subconscious desires come to life.” She meets Briar Rose, Amelia’s alter ego, who experienced her share of sadness and wanted to fall asleep. Also in the dreamworld is green-skinned Malicine, the nonbinary demon who, despite having placed the curse of eternal slumber on Amelia, is mostly friendly. All three are running from things they can’t face, though the dreamworld may not give them a choice. Pham’s debut, a Sapphic reimagining of “Sleeping Beauty,” explores mental health and asks a lot of readers as it seesaws between emotional confrontations, time jumps, and scenes where one character inhabits the memories of another, all of which demand intense engagement. Still, the ending is earned as well as positive.
Somberly beautiful. (content note) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2026
ISBN: 9798217113026
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Kokila
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
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