An engagingly suspenseful dystopian drama.
Two children journey to find their missing mother and discover a country ravaged by disease in this YA novel.
This first book in Boglisch’s Elifer Chronicles series deals with topics that resonate with the contemporary moment, including governmental and public reactions to a seemingly unstoppable virus. Veronica Elifer, a single parent living in Claremore, an autonomous town, with two children, Maxwell and Karina, remains haunted by the day when a mysterious official took away her husband, Felix. Now, four years later, Maxwell and Karina return from school to find their home ransacked, Veronica missing, and “men dressed in dark clothing with sparkling medallions and cuffs stepping out of black cars” to pursue them. Maxwell and Karina have never suffered any kind of illness before, so when they make their way to an isolated town, they can’t comprehend a disease that “starts as a simple cold” and progresses to “pockmarks, swollen eyes and shallow cheeks, along with…open wounds and thin skin” before death. The omniscient narrator’s voice has a casual tone, and it’s a style that occasionally results in awkward phrasing: “On either side were men dressed in uniforms that resembled tuxes. Their eyes were covered in sunglasses and their mouths covered in doctor masks.” However, the novel’s great mystery has to do with how Felix’s and Veronica’s disappearances are related to the epidemic, and Boglisch, the author of Demon Song (2019), handles this aspect impressively. Just as an important piece of information seems about to be revealed, a character defers it—as when the twins ask Lex, their newfound friend and benefactor, what he means when he refers to “clean” children. As a result, readers will feel compelled to keep turning the pages of this timely novel.
An engagingly suspenseful dystopian drama.Pub Date: July 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-62420-514-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Rogue Phoenix Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations.
Magic, mystery, and love intertwine and invite in this newest take on the “enchanted circus” trope.
Sisters raised by their abusive father, a governor of a colonial backwater in a world vaguely reminiscent of the late 18th century, Scarlett and Donatella each long for something more. Scarlett, olive-skinned, dark of hair and attitude, longs for Caraval, the fabled, magical circus helmed by the possibly evil Master Legend Santos, while blonde, sunny Tella finds comfort in drink and the embraces of various men. A slightly awkward start, with inconsistencies of attitude and setting, rapidly smooths out when they, along with handsome “golden-brown” sailor Julian, flee to Caraval on the eve of Scarlett’s arranged marriage. Tella disappears, and Scarlett must navigate a nighttime world of magic to find her. Caraval delights the senses: beautiful and scary, described in luscious prose, this is a show readers will wish they could enter. Dresses can be purchased for secrets or days of life; clocks can become doors; bridges move: this is an inventive and original circus, laced with an edge of horror. A double love story, one sensual romance and the other sisterly loyalty, anchors the plot, but the real star here is Caraval and its secrets.
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations. (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-09525-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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