A divisive novel that will leave readers wondering “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” (Fantasy. 14-18)
Even paradise has its secrets.
Trains bring desperate newcomers who’ve heard the tales of wonder. Gardnerville has no disease, and its inhabitants live well beyond 100, looking youthful all the while. But those, like Skylar, who were born and raised in the seemingly blissful town know its dark side. The land gives many gifts, like Skylar’s ability to read minds, but it takes even more. Adolescence is hard in Gardnerville, turning teens mad and even into killers. With some pharmaceutical help, Skylar has tried to forget her painful past, including her older sister Piper’s strange disappearance four years ago, but now it’s time to remember. In this distinctive, supernatural read, Skylar’s first-person narration alternates between episodic remembrances of time spent with Piper (highlighted by ’80s song titles from their mother’s old mix tapes) and her current struggle to find Piper and understand the mysteries of Gardnerville. Skylar’s storytelling style can be slow and complex, leaving characters and romance flat. Readers with patience and curiosity about Piper’s whereabouts, possible role in an uprising and folkloric connections, however, will add up the clues that lead to a startling ending.
A divisive novel that will leave readers wondering “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: June 10, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-06-213596-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
Truly fantastic.
This dark fantasy duology opener has a magic school, a death, and five students who find themselves stranded in the wilderness.
Ren Monroe is a promising student wizard at Balmerick, a private school in the city of Kathor. Along with her best friend, Timmons, Ren is one of the few welfare students attending on a scholarship, and despite being one of the most accomplished people at the school, finding a placement in one of the top houses is proving difficult and is a hurdle in the way of the secret mission Ren has set out to accomplish. When a portal spell goes awry and Ren, Timmons, and four other students from different walks of life are thrown together into the Dires, an uncharted land where the last dragons lived, one of them ends up dead and the rest need to learn to work together to make their way back home before they succumb to the harsh environment or the terrifying revenant following them. This may well be the chance Ren was looking for to prove her worth. Placing elements of a locked-room mystery and an original magic system within the familiar trappings of a school for magic, this is a no-holds-barred tale of revenge, atonement, and the pursuit of justice set in a world diverse in skin color and social classes. Ren is a protagonist for the ages: equal parts smart, calculating, and ruthless, forming a lethal package as an avenging angel.
Truly fantastic. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-66591-868-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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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