Not really enough substance to make a satisfying read even for paranormal addicts.
Jessamin Olea has been sent away from her native island of Melei to attend school in the dull and sinister Albion, a country that bears a vague resemblance to Victorian England.
While struggling with her studies and fighting both homesickness and poverty, Jessamin comes literally under the spell of a mercurial aristocrat named Finn Ackerly, who returns her affections and attempts to protect her from the evil, sadistic Lord Downpike. The rebellious and headstrong girl refuses the attempts of the various Alben nobility to protect her, even as the elite struggle to gain control of Albion’s colonies. All hell breaks loose when Jessamin inadvertently takes possession of Lord Downpike’s familiar, a black bird that morphs into a book of spells on occasion but protects Jessamin from the worst of the magic. Downpike’s attempts to recover the bird/book and Jessamin’s frantic pursuit of the captured Finn through a maze of magic portals and strongholds make for a thrilling if confusing narrative. Jessamin’s engaging first-person, present-tense narration does not entirely compensate for the tenuous logic of the plot and the preponderance of stereotyped characters.
Not really enough substance to make a satisfying read even for paranormal addicts. (Paranormal romance. 12-17)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-06-213589-6
Page Count: 288
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
A meditation on a timely subject that never forgets to put its characters and their stories first
An Afghani-Australian teen named Mina earns a scholarship to a prestigious private school and meets Michael, whose family opposes allowing Muslim refugees and immigrants into the country.
Dual points of view are presented in this moving and intelligent contemporary novel set in Australia. Eleventh-grader Mina is smart and self-possessed—her mother and stepfather (her biological father was murdered in Afghanistan) have moved their business and home across Sydney in order for her to attend Victoria College. She’s determined to excel there, even though being surrounded by such privilege is a culture shock for her. When she meets white Michael, the two are drawn to each other even though his close-knit, activist family espouses a political viewpoint that, though they insist it is merely pragmatic, is unquestionably Islamophobic. Tackling hard topics head-on, Abdel-Fattah explores them fully and with nuance. True-to-life dialogue and realistic teen social dynamics both deepen the tension and provide levity. While Mina and Michael’s attraction seems at first unlikely, the pair’s warmth wins out, and readers will be swept up in their love story and will come away with a clearer understanding of how bias permeates the lives of those targeted by it.
A meditation on a timely subject that never forgets to put its characters and their stories first . (Fiction. 12-17)Pub Date: May 9, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-338-11866-7
Page Count: 402
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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