An uneven read featuring an endearing pair of protagonists.
A queendom is divided, and a teen girl hopes to unite it.
In the Queendom of Frea, the citizens of the Upper and Lower Realms live apart but under the ostensibly benign rule of their queen. Thirteen-year-old Jacs, a Lowrian girl, is an inventor’s apprentice who finds a message sent by Connor, an Upperite boy yearning to learn about the Lower Realm. They strike up a secret correspondence that lasts years—but unbeknownst to Jacs, Connor is really Prince Cornelius, the queen’s only son. When the queen is assassinated during a rare visit to the Lower Realm, the subsequent investigation and subjugation of her fellow Lowrian citizens inspires Jacs to covertly join the Contest of Queens, a competition that sees young women facing off against each other for a chance to become the next queen. This first entry in a new fantasy series is a mixed bag: It introduces a matriarchal society based on a corrupt system and thoughtfully examines prejudice while establishing its main characters’ charming relationship as well as Jacs’ empowering story, including friendships she makes along the way. However, though the queendom’s power dynamics may be gender flipped, its heavy-handed presentation reinforces gender essentialism, and the novel’s voice vacillates between middle grade and young adult as it follows the characters through the years, an inconsistency that may lose some readers. The main cast is assumed White.
An uneven read featuring an endearing pair of protagonists. (maps) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-7443-0498-5
Page Count: 464
Publisher: CamCat Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2021
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
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning.
Two teens train to be society-sanctioned killers in an otherwise immortal world.
On post-mortal Earth, humans live long (if not particularly passionate) lives without fear of disease, aging, or accidents. Operating independently of the governing AI (called the Thunderhead since it evolved from the cloud), scythes rely on 10 commandments, quotas, and their own moral codes to glean the population. After challenging Hon. Scythe Faraday, 16-year-olds Rowan Damisch and Citra Terranova reluctantly become his apprentices. Subjected to killcraft training, exposed to numerous executions, and discouraged from becoming allies or lovers, the two find themselves engaged in a fatal competition but equally determined to fight corruption and cruelty. The vivid and often violent action unfolds slowly, anchored in complex worldbuilding and propelled by political machinations and existential musings. Scythes’ journal entries accompany Rowan’s and Citra’s dual and dueling narratives, revealing both personal struggles and societal problems. The futuristic post–2042 MidMerican world is both dystopia and utopia, free of fear, unexpected death, and blatant racism—multiracial main characters discuss their diverse ethnic percentages rather than purity—but also lacking creativity, emotion, and purpose. Elegant and elegiac, brooding but imbued with gallows humor, Shusterman’s dark tale thrusts realistic, likable teens into a surreal situation and raises deep philosophic questions.
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning. (Science fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4424-7242-6
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
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