Despite uneven craft, readers looking for inclusive Sapphic fantasy will be pleased to find this.
Two young women shift from childhood friends to enemies to lovers.
In Cavalia, cruel Queen Elene has complete control of her population. Cadence is a corporeal mage; weaving spells through song, she can manipulate others’ bodies for healing, pleasure, or pain. This is Cadence’s first year as the Principal in the Performing, an annual event during which sadistic Elene forces singers to torture the kingdom’s nobles. Noble Remi is Cadence’s estranged childhood friend, attending the Performing in place of her chronically ill mother. Through a series of chance encounters, the teens reconnect. When Elene discovers their relationship, she forces Remi to become a prisoner/companion to Cadence to manipulate them both. As their fates become more intertwined, both Cadence and Remi must decide how far their feelings for each other go and what they’re willing to sacrifice to unseat the powerful queen. Both girls’ alternating first-person narrations often read like exposition, and occasionally repetitive background information feels underutilized. The setting—which evokes 19th-century Europe—sometimes clashes with more contemporary vocabulary. Uneven pacing slowly builds before racing to the finish. Descriptions of violence committed by corporeal mages are graphic but not gratuitous. Cadence, Remi, and Elene are White; diversity is woven into the text through Black background characters, Remi’s body positivity, Cadence’s dyslexia, and sign language.
Despite uneven craft, readers looking for inclusive Sapphic fantasy will be pleased to find this. (Historical fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 24, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-374-31335-7
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
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
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
