Engaging but overloaded.
A series opener infused with Chinese folklore and populated by supernatural creatures.
As punishment for the first Emperor’s greed, the gods unleashed nightmarish Wrathlings to terrorize the Middle Kingdom, later known as China. The heavenly Jade Emperor eventually relented and provided the kingdom with protection: 12 warriors, each descended from a Chinese zodiac animal. Generations later, during the Second Opium War, the zodiac warriors’ source of power, a fountain called the Circle of Twelve, was dismantled, and the Descendants were cursed, becoming supernatural beings. In present-day Manhattan, the Earthly Branches Academy trains the Descendants and assigns them to protect mortals. When Julius Long, Chancellor of the Descendants’ High Council, dies while attempting to restore the Circle of Twelve, dissatisfaction with the Long family’s leadership begins to stir among the Council, and vampire Evangeline Long is compelled to continue her brother’s mission to prove her worth. To recover the Circle’s stolen pieces, Evangeline forms a specialized team: expert criminal and werewolf Tristan She, fox spirit Nicholas Hu (a master of disguise), Lei, a shaman with valuable knowledge of the Faerie realm, and Alice Jiang, a human who can read minds. This story has many appealing elements—a dangerous heist, a potential second-chance romance, and fantastical beings—but some of the more original elements are overly complex and unconvincing. The book also covers so much worldbuilding that it descends into infodumps and doesn’t fully coalesce.
Engaging but overloaded. (illustrated character guide) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9780593646410
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
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
BOOK REVIEW
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in.
Black is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy.
Jude—broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness—has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others. Fierce and observant Jude is utterly unaware of the currents that swirl around her. She fights, plots, even murders enemies, but she must also navigate her relationship with her complex family (human, Faerie, and mixed). This is a heady blend of Faerie lore, high fantasy, and high school drama, dripping with description that brings the dangerous but tempting world of Faerie to life.
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-31027-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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