Full of comedic beats, demon expulsions, and ’90s camp.
After attending an evangelical Christian church, a girl becomes involved with a group of young exorcists.
This graphic novel set in the 1990s follows Kay, a teen who agrees to attend church with her newly divorced mother. Kay’s father makes her feel like she’s his “fourth priority behind work, golf, and hitting on the hostess at Chili’s.” While her mom joins the adults for sermons by the bearded, ponytailed pastor, Kay attends the youth group, where the young leaders talk about avoiding temptation and perform an Ace of Base cover (“I saw the Christ / and it opened up my eyes”). Later, Kay is caught spying on the pastor and youth group leaders, who are attempting to exorcise a demon from a local man in a cabin in the woods. It emerges that Kay’s a blight (someone impervious to demonic possession), making her blood highly desirable to demons, who take her father as bait. Needing allies if they hope to prevail, the evangelicals join forces with young Catholic, Jewish, and Wiccan exorcists. The expressive, delightfully over-the-top illustrations capture the era and enhance the strong pacing. Kay feels some reluctance toward her mother’s church, but all the religions are treated with respect during the communal fight against evil. This work reads as a stand-alone work but would make for a great series opener. Main characters read white; the supporting cast is racially diverse.
Full of comedic beats, demon expulsions, and ’90s camp. (Graphic paranormal. 13-18)Pub Date: July 16, 2024
ISBN: 9781250789228
Page Count: 256
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Lush, angsty, queer horror.
When the monsters they imagine come to life, two boys fight for their lives—and each other.
Andrew Perrault, who’s from Australia, writes beautiful, macabre fairy tales. His roommate at his American boarding school, Wickwood Academy, is talented artist Thomas Rye, who brings his stories to vivid life in paint and charcoal. Andrew’s twin sister, Dove, is all but ignoring him, so he has plenty of time to focus on Thomas’ increasingly odd behavior. Thomas’ parents disappeared just before the new school year started, and Andrew noticed blood on his roommate’s sleeve on their first day back. When he follows Thomas into the forest one night, Andrew discovers him fighting one of the monsters that Thomas has drawn from these stories. The boys soon find themselves coping with vicious bullies by day and fighting monsters by night. At the same time, Andrew struggles to reconcile his feelings for Thomas with his growing awareness of his own asexuality. But when the sinister Antler King breaches Wickwood’s walls, Andrew realizes that he and Thomas may not survive their own creations. This novel, written in rich, extravagant prose, features frank portrayals of disordered eating, self-harm, bullying, and mental illness. Andrew grapples realistically with his sexual identity, and the story has ample genuinely creepy moments with the monsters. Andrew, Thomas, and Dove are white.
Lush, angsty, queer horror. (content warning) (Horror. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781250895660
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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