A cerebral and engrossing work of speculative fiction.
In Ho’s debut YA SF novel, a teenager struggles with mental illness while performing at the highest level of a popular gaming competition.
In the near future, esports have become a major pastime, with specially designed, community-based fantasy characters called Combatants participating in fighting competitions. The biggest competition of them all is called the Fraye—a national tournament with players from all 50 states—and Daylark is the group, called a Guilde, tasked with creating Hawaii’s Combatant. Luka Lan is a recent high school graduate and merely a fan of esports when he learns that he’s won a place as the fifth member of Daylark. He becomes a local celebrity almost overnight. The creators in the most prestigious Guildes receive “scholarships to universities and job opportunities with companies like Disney and Nintendo.” But being a member of Daylark isn’t a walk in the park, especially for someone like Luka, who suffers from symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Almost immediately after he joins the Guilde, he begins suffering from delusions, which make it difficult for him to know what’s real and what isn’t. Luka struggles to keep his condition from affecting the Guilde’s work—but then he learns that his condition might be the reason he was chosen in the first place. Ho’s prose is tense and often dreamy, painting surreal images from both the gaming world and from Luka’s own psyche: “The games surrounding me are no longer comforting. They turn into pictures that speak of violence and blood, changing the comforts of my childhood into strange images drawn by a demon.” There’s a sword-and-sorcery element to the gaming, but the book explores issues of content creation and workplace dynamics in a way that one might not expect from the story’s outset. It’s an intense psychological thriller that also presents a sympathetic treatment of mental illness. In addition, it’s an inspired choice to set the story in a world where so much is imagined or generated, which feels, in some ways, like a reflection of our increasingly digital world.
A cerebral and engrossing work of speculative fiction.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and...
A deliciously creepy page-turning gem from first-time writer and illustrator Brosgol finds brooding teenager Anya trying to escape the past—both her own and the ghost haunting her.
Anya feels out of place at her preppy private school; embarrassed by her Russian heritage, she has worked hard to lose her accent and to look more like everyone else. After a particularly frustrating morning at the bus stop, Anya storms off, only to accidentally fall down a well. Down in the dark hole, she meets Emily, a ghost who claims to be a murder victim trapped down in the dank abyss for 90 years. With Emily’s help, Anya manages to escape, though once free, she learns that Emily has traveled out with her. At first, Emily seems like the perfect friend; however, once her motives become clear, Anya learns that “perfect” may only be an illusion. A moodily atmospheric spectrum of grays washes over the clean, tidy panels, setting a distinct stage before the first words appear. Brosgol’s tight storytelling invokes the chilling feeling of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline (2002), though for a decidedly older set.
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and outward appearance. (Graphic supernatural fiction. 12 & up)Pub Date: June 7, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59643-552-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
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
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