by Kiley Roache ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 27, 2018
Blind spots around race, culture, and class distract from an otherwise thoughtful, entertaining, and politically relevant...
What happens when you let a feminist into a frat house? Cassandra Davis is about to find out.
When Cassandra's conservative, working-class Midwestern parents—who don’t see the value in a woman’s getting a college degree—are unable to pay the tuition for her dream school in California, she applies for and receives a full-ride scholarship on the basis of her research proposal: an undercover study of Delta Tau Chi, a fraternity plagued by accusations of sexism. At first Cassie is thrilled about the idea of taking the organization down, but after becoming the first successful female pledge in the American fraternity’s history, she finds that her frat brothers are not all villains—in fact, many of them are capable of change. In her debut novel, Roache has created a narrator with a strong, relatable voice as well as a cast of nuanced characters full of pleasant surprises and believable personal growth. However, her prose often slips into the didactic, referencing theory dominated by white feminist icons ranging from Lena Dunham to Andrea Dworkin and Tina Fey. Mentions of the global South disappointingly rely on a victim mentality that oversimplifies women’s struggles there, and her portrayal of working-class families feels condescending. The few characters of color in the book are two-dimensional.
Blind spots around race, culture, and class distract from an otherwise thoughtful, entertaining, and politically relevant coming-of-age story. (Fiction. 16-adult)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-373-21234-7
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
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by Kiley Roache
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by Kiley Roache
by Sarah J. Maas ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2018
With introspection replacing battles, this extended epilogue gives breathing room between dramatic arcs but is best for...
A glimpse of the characters dealing with rebuilding and fallout after A Court of Wings and Ruin (2017).
In a change of pace from the usual epic struggle against powerful forces, this slimmer-than-usual volume follows the cast during the festive Winter Solstice holiday. Nods to trouble on the horizon (dissent in the Illyrian ranks, Fae courts eyeing for expansion, and a politically fraught situation among humans) remain distant, the lack of progress at times resulting in frustrating repetition. Cassian’s and Mor’s backstories are explored, and prickly Amren’s low-key relationship storyline is supplemented by her High Fae adjustments (including bodily humor). While Elain is becoming more comfortable, she still wants nothing to do with Lucien (who feels like an outsider nearly everywhere and has his hands full with a self-destructive Tamlin). Severely struggling Nesta self-medicates through alcohol, meaningless sex, pushing everyone away, and finding every last seedy corner of the otherwise utopian Velaris. While Rhys handles politics, Feyre’s storyline revolves around Solstice shopping and art’s potential for healing trauma—when the lovers aren’t telepathically sexting or craving each other. Aside from occasional minor characters, most of the inhuman cast seem white. Several plotlines are predictably resolved.
With introspection replacing battles, this extended epilogue gives breathing room between dramatic arcs but is best for readers who’d prefer downtime with the characters over high stakes. (map, preview of next title) (Fantasy. 16-adult)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68119-631-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2018
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by Sarah J. Maas ; illustrated by Samantha Dodge ; adapted by Louise Simonson
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
by Dan Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 18, 2003
Bulky, balky, talky.
In an updated quest for the Holy Grail, the narrative pace remains stuck in slo-mo.
But is the Grail, in fact, holy? Turns out that’s a matter of perspective. If you’re a member of that most secret of clandestine societies, the Priory of Sion, you think yes. But if your heart belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, the Grail is more than just unholy, it’s downright subversive and terrifying. At least, so the story goes in this latest of Brown’s exhaustively researched, underimagined treatise-thrillers (Deception Point, 2001, etc.). When Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon—in Paris to deliver a lecture—has his sleep interrupted at two a.m., it’s to discover that the police suspect he’s a murderer, the victim none other than Jacques Saumière, esteemed curator of the Louvre. The evidence against Langdon could hardly be sketchier, but the cops feel huge pressure to make an arrest. And besides, they don’t particularly like Americans. Aided by the murdered man’s granddaughter, Langdon flees the flics to trudge the Grail-path along with pretty, persuasive Sophie, who’s driven by her own need to find answers. The game now afoot amounts to a scavenger hunt for the scholarly, clues supplied by the late curator, whose intent was to enlighten Sophie and bedevil her enemies. It’s not all that easy to identify these enemies. Are they emissaries from the Vatican, bent on foiling the Grail-seekers? From Opus Dei, the wayward, deeply conservative Catholic offshoot bent on foiling everybody? Or any one of a number of freelancers bent on a multifaceted array of private agendas? For that matter, what exactly is the Priory of Sion? What does it have to do with Leonardo? With Mary Magdalene? With (gulp) Walt Disney? By the time Sophie and Langdon reach home base, everything—well, at least more than enough—has been revealed.
Bulky, balky, talky.Pub Date: March 18, 2003
ISBN: 0-385-50420-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2003
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