This sprightly SF adventure boasts an infectiously plucky hero.
In Ash’s YA debut and series opener, a 16-year-old girl takes on merciless aliens threatening the people she loves.
Abigail Ashby’s social status is at a low point in her small New Mexico town. Her star football player boyfriend, Taylor Rooksand, has been exiled to a boarding school as punishment for a prank. Abigail also openly sides with her best friend, Harris Barnett; they’re the only people who believe his father’s claims that aliens abducted him and his still-missing wife. Evidently, those aliens have unfinished business—they return to grab Harris, and, because she’s in the same room, Abigail as well. The friends wind up on a spaceship hovering over the Earth. The two are separated, but Abigail uses her training (courtesy of her sheriff father) and her wit to attempt an escape with Harris. Meanwhile, back on the ground, Taylor reluctantly forms an alliance with Sheriff Ashby, who doesn’t hide his contempt for the troublemaking teen; they grudgingly work together to save Abigail, though she certainly isn’t just waiting around for help to arrive. Ash’s impeccably paced yarn deftly establishes characters and backstories in the early scenes and continues to develop them throughout the plentiful action sequences (Abigail, for example, is at odds with her father, who practically smothers her with his overprotectiveness). The altruistic and fearless young protagonist thrillingly faces off against cruel, sometimes monstrous beings (“Its elongated maw dripped with dark, oily fluid, and its hairless, jet-black skin was stretched over bones that jutted out at sharp angles”) and braves hostile environments like an unnerving “forest” aboard the spaceship. Even the romance angle proves engaging; Harris’ affection for his childhood friend creates a love triangle and saddles Abigail with a tough choice (Taylor isn’t as bad as the sheriff believes him to be). The narrative’s suspense is blunted somewhat by the way Abigail easily uses every alien weapon or piece of tech she gets her hands on (as does Taylor, battling threats on Earth); the fight scenes end quickly and cleanly, as if the teens are merely playing a video game. But that surely won’t stop readers from anticipating sequels and more adventures with Abigail.
This sprightly SF adventure boasts an infectiously plucky hero.Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026
ISBN: 9781067414009
Page Count: 310
Publisher: Obsidian Wave Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty.
In this retelling of a classic, a drama student’s obsession with beauty leads her down a dark—and possibly deadly—path.
Eighteen-year-old Penny Paxton is beginning her first year at Dorian Drama Academy in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she hopes to follow in her starlet mother’s footsteps—and earn the love that her mother has never seemed to offer. At Dorian, Penny is mentored by Royal Shakespeare Company legend Orlagh Camran, who makes her the compelling offer of a portrait by the Masked Painter, a mysterious artist with the ability to gift his subjects everlasting youth and beauty. But shortly after Penny’s portrait is complete, several of the Masked Painter’s subjects are found murdered. Fearing that she’s made a terrible mistake and may become the next victim, Penny, who’s gay, begins to investigate the murders with the help of an unlikely ally. As she attempts to uncover the truth surrounding the Masked Painter and the murders, she’s forced to reckon with her own toxic obsession with beauty. This chilling, atmospheric novel, inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, is entertaining and full of twists, though some of the reveals feel contrived and some questions are left unanswered. The plot unravels at a leisurely pace but eventually builds to an action-packed (if somewhat convoluted) conclusion. Most characters are cued white.
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty. (content note, author’s note, bonus scene) (Fantasy thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781250346797
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
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