A jumble of characters and stereotypes does not constitute worldbuilding. Skip
What ought to be a tense story of discovery after escaping a post-apocalyptic steampunk hellscape is overwhelmed by a bland, unremarkable love triangle.
At the end of Ashes of Twilight (2012), Wren led her fellow coal-mining villagers out of the dome that’s imprisoned them for generations. The outside world is not blazing afire, as their rulers have assured them ever since the comet that sent their people into the domes generations ago, during the Victoria era. Though the sun burns their pale skin, and the fresh air (ridiculously) kills many of the escapees, Wren is determined never to go back. Though the events of the first book ended Wren’s previous wearisome love triangle, never fear: A new charismatic young man appears, along with some other outlandish adventurers, to add ponderous romantic tension. Wren’s ogling of all the boys—“[t]he smooth breadth of their chests, the work of the muscles in the back, the dips and curves in the stomachs and hips”—is endless. She’s not even distracted by the nigh-feral attackers outside the dome: stinky, toothless and speaking in a laughable hillbilly dialect (in coastal Wales, these ruffians deliver such gems as “I’m ah-tellin-ya”).
A jumble of characters and stereotypes does not constitute worldbuilding. Skip . (Steampunk. 14-16)Pub Date: July 23, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-312-64176-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: May 28, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Oh, the humanity.
Power, love and vengeance come together in this consistently over-the-top conclusion to the Starcrossed trilogy.
Nantucket teen Helen Hamilton is a direct descendent of Helen of Troy, and she’s as entangled as her ancestor was in wars between gods and men. Helen is a Scion, one of an ancient family descended from the Greek gods and cursed to re-enact the old hatreds throughout the ages. Her erstwhile lover Lucas is himself the reincarnation of the first Helen’s lover, Paris. Along with the other Scions—most of whom are confusingly similar to multiple other characters and have seemingly random Classical names, such as Orion, who looks exactly like his uncle Adonis and is Aeneas reborn—Helen must keep the Greek gods from destroying the Earth. With monster-filled battles and the Earth at stake, the plot has no need for the ludicrous forces creating unresolvable sexual tension between Helen and Lucas. Their love has been destined for eons, leaving them without the free will to feel as strongly about others. Helen and Lucas are first cousins, and Scion close relatives always have insane children. They can’t choose to be childless because of another ancient curse which will damn the human race if Helen doesn’t have a baby. Cinematic battle scenes are punctuated with a presumably unintentionally hilarious fireworks-backed kiss and culminate in an overly expository epilogue.
Oh, the humanity. (Paranormal romance. 14-16)Pub Date: May 28, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-201203-6
Page Count: 432
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
At least there’s a lot going on
Gene escapes from certain death at bloodsucker hands—and from drowning and starvation on the river, freezing in the mountains, wickedness in the creepy murder village, a deadly plummet on a death train—until finally he’s right back in vampire central.
After their death-defying escape from the Mission in The Prey (2013), Gene, Sissy and the other humans (or hepers) find their escape vehicle takes them not to the promised land of safety, but to a cavern full of starving hepers beneath the Palace: the Ruler’s larder. Double agents promise to rescue Gene and Sissy, but the cost—the sacrifice of all the other humans in the cavern—is too high. Gene and Sis together make up the Origin; their blood combines to fuel weapons that can de-fang the vamps back into hepers. They’re the only source of the weaponized blood (for no good reason), so when their next frying-pan–to-fire maneuver sends them straight back to the metropolis filled with millions of starving man-eaters, the salvation of humanity is at risk. As if gore-drenched certain death weren’t enough cause for despair, Gene suspects his vanished father didn’t love him enough, and he has to choose between two different girls, one of whom is a vampire, which should make it easy.
At least there’s a lot going on . (Science fiction. 14-16)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-250-00512-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2013
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