A bloody good way to end a trilogy.
Vampire Allie, one of the genre’s toughest heroines, returns with one last chance to save both vampire- and humankind in this conclusion to the Blood of Eden series.
The monstrous side of Allie’s vampire nature threatens to overwhelm her, numbing the pain she feels over losing Zeke to the mad vampire Sarren at the end of The Eternity Cure (2013). This disappoints her human sire, Kanin, although it delights Kanin’s other vampire spawn (and Allie’s blood brother), vicious, snarky Jackal. Bad-and-proud former villain Jackal brings needed laughs. The mismatched vampire family is in hot pursuit of Sarren, who created a mutated plague he calls Requiem to kill humans, vampires and the monstrous rabids alike. They must stop him before he reaches and destroys the human-only city of Eden, whose scientists have made the most progress toward a cure. While following Sarren is easy, finding food isn’t: Sarren’s slaughtering his way across the countryside, leaving no humans for them to feed from. Worse, he’s come up with a way to use Zeke to hurt Allie. But if the heroes allow Sarren’s diversions to slow them down, Eden could pay the price. And if Sarren’s virus escapes, all life (and unlife) is doomed. Stomach-churning gore and heart-pounding action balance the (occasionally repetitive) romantic angst and moral inquiries into the nature of monsters.
A bloody good way to end a trilogy. (discussion questions) (Horror. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 15, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-373-21112-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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