A captivating blend of horror and traditional folklore.
When dark forces meddle with her family, a teen discovers a world of gods and demons in Vancouver’s Chinatown.
Sixteen-year-old Taiwanese Canadian Ruby Chen doesn’t make waves. As the eldest daughter of immigrants, she does her best to fulfill her parents’ expectations of academic perfection and dutiful obedience. She even stifles her own passion for classical piano just to maintain harmony in her family. But when a malevolent spirit suddenly attacks Ruby and her sister, Tina, on their walk home one day, her life is shaken up. Ruby has always been able to see creatures lurking in the shadows, and she initially tries to move on from the incident. But when Tina starts acting unnervingly differently, Ruby knows she can’t just stand by. Desperate for help, she approaches Shen and Delia, two Taiwanese Canadian teens who can also see spirits and who came to her assistance on the day of the attack. Through them, she learns of an ancient conflict that involves a wandering temple that preys on people’s deepest desires and the guardians who work to keep evil at bay. Can the teens act in time to banish the dark forces from their community and save Ruby’s sister as well? Though the bulk of the book is character-driven, centering on Ruby’s introspection, the blood-curdling horror sequences are riveting, and Ruby’s search for herself amid familial and societal expectations is equally compelling.
A captivating blend of horror and traditional folklore. (content warning, author’s note, glossary) (Horror. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781368099097
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Rick Riordan Presents/Disney
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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