Perhaps a more genuinely enlightened protagonist would have made this debut more engaging
Audrey Rose Wadsworth, 17, would rather perform autopsies in her uncle’s dark laboratory than find a suitable husband, as is the socially acceptable rite of passage for a young, white British lady in the late 1800s.
The story immediately brings Audrey into a fractious pairing with her uncle’s young assistant, Thomas Cresswell. The two engage in predictable rounds of “I’m smarter than you are” banter, while Audrey’s older brother, Nathaniel, taunts her for being a girl out of her place. Horrific murders of prostitutes whose identities point to associations with the Wadsworth estate prompt Audrey to start her own investigation, with Thomas as her sidekick. Audrey’s narration is both ponderous and polemical, as she sees her pursuit of her goals and this investigation as part of a crusade for women. She declares that the slain aren’t merely prostitutes but “daughters and wives and mothers,” but she’s also made it a point to deny any alignment with the profiled victims: “I am not going as a prostitute. I am simply blending in.” Audrey also expresses a narrow view of her desired gender role, asserting that “I was determined to be both pretty and fierce,” as if to say that physical beauty and liking “girly” things are integral to feminism. The graphic descriptions of mutilated women don’t do much to speed the pace.
Perhaps a more genuinely enlightened protagonist would have made this debut more engaging . (Historical thriller. 15-18)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-27349-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An atmospheric, tension-filled fantasy debut.
In an alternate Harlem in 1926 that’s soaked in blood and secrets, former best friends Elise Saint and Layla Quinn grapple with the murders plaguing their city—and the feelings they have for each other.
Vampires, or reapers, abound in Jazz Era Harlem. For 18-year-old Black girls Elise and Layla, the outlook is bleak. Five years ago, Layla lost her parents, became a reaper, and tried to kill her best friend. The attack caused Elise to leave for Paris, but now she’s back for the 10-year anniversary party of the founding of the Saint empire, one built to kill reapers. Layla, armed with a knife, breaks into the Saint mansion, frightens Elise’s younger sister, and confronts Elise. Soon after, Layla is blamed for a vicious attack on Saint associates. The girls find themselves teaming up to investigate, working toward the goal of finding a cure for reaperhood. Elise and Layla’s simmering friction drives the book, making their interactions a highlight. Scenes with other characters sparkle—such as those featuring gangster Jamie (whose loyalties are unclear) and Elise’s confidant, Sterling (a reaper hunter whose white mother fled the Deep South after his Black father was lynched)—while others fall flat, leading to uneven pacing. The worldbuilding is also inconsistent and confusing at times. But this duology opener, packed with themes of racial, emotional, and generational trauma, features gorgeously written prose that will leave readers wanting more.
An atmospheric, tension-filled fantasy debut. (content warning) (Fantasy. 15-18)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728297866
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
A slasher flick spliced with Crime and Punishment, this engrossing debut novel asks complex philosophical questions in a...
An adolescent, yet Nietzschean, examination of humanity and horror.
Nita is a monster. Literally. She can heal her own wounds and even block her pain receptors. But she and her mother also deal in monsters, species regulated by the International Non-Human Police, selling their body parts on the black market. Her ghoulish mother hunts and kills, while Nita dissects them with a meditative grace, trying to think of herself as innocent. But when Nita’s conscience inconveniently prevents her from vivisecting a live specimen, she’s kidnapped and taken to the Amazon, caged by people in the same business. Menaced by a zannie (creatures that feed off physical pain) and a ruthless woman, Nita, who is mixed species (with a brown-skinned human father and a nonhuman mother), has to figure out how to escape and whether she has any morals to live by. The vivid setting, Mercado de la Muerte (one of several Death Markets worldwide) in a sweltering South American jungle populated by buyers, sellers, and sold, is matched by a zipping plot interspersed with deliciously horrifying and gory scenes of dismemberment and destruction. Equally intriguing is the constant musing on what makes a monster, how people respond to trauma and control, and how one’s choices affirm or deny one’s own humanity.
A slasher flick spliced with Crime and Punishment, this engrossing debut novel asks complex philosophical questions in a pleasingly hard-to-stomach way. (Fantasy. 15-adult)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-328-86354-6
Page Count: 368
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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