An engaging new voice and a Caribbean-inspired fantasy to savor.
Two sisters face near-impossible odds while trying to protect each other and their country.
Five years ago, 17-year-old Faron Vincent, from the island of San Irie, became the Childe Empyrean—the one chosen by the gods to liberate her country from the colonizing Langlish. Faron has access to the gods’ infinite power and is treated with reverence by her people, despite her often reckless and rebellious behavior. When San Irie hosts an international peace summit, Faron must be diplomatic toward predatory dignitaries from enemy nations. Unexpectedly, Elara, her mature, responsible 18-year-old sister, forms a bond with Zephyra, a forest green, golden-eyed dragon ridden to San Irie by a girl from the Langley Empire. When a phenomenon called the Fury turns dragons feral and deadly, the gods tell Faron that the only hope is destroying them—but doing so would also kill those bonded to them, Elara included. Faron is determined to save her sister, even if it risks betraying her country. The girls become entangled in conflicts reaching back before their time, and they’re desperate to emerge alive and in a free nation. This debut alternates between the sisters’ third-person perspectives and is infused with Jamaican cultural and historical influences. Cole’s astute prose brings the world and its characters, who are predominantly Black, to life in refreshing and complex ways as it highlights themes of family, patriotism, war, identity, and sacrifice.
An engaging new voice and a Caribbean-inspired fantasy to savor. (map) (Fantasy. 12-18)Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2024
ISBN: 9780316534635
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
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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