A straightforward time-travel story that never quite fulfills its potential.
A teen’s school trip takes a literal approach to hands-on learning in this translated title from Germany.
Boston is a short, blond German boy being raised by a struggling single mom; he was named after the hometown of the American father who doesn’t know of his existence. On a class trip to Spain, he’s occupied with seeing the sights and trying to fit in with cooler classmates who mock him. While in search of a birthday present for his mother, Boston touches a magical tile and is transported to the year 1492, just as Queen Isabella has decreed that Jewish residents of Granada must convert to Catholicism or leave—without any of their belongings. Amid this religious persecution, Boston encounters some unlikely friends and must find a way to return home before it’s too late. Boie skillfully interweaves historical facts, creating a novel that gives equal attention to the three religious communities of 15th-century Spain. The language used by Moorish characters, who frequently refer to Christians as pork-eaters, unfortunately feels caricatured at times. However, the individual characters are developed sufficiently to move the largely predictable plot forward. Boston consistently seems to be at the mercy of other characters, always getting rescued from hopeless situations. This ineptitude comes off as slightly unbearable instead of endearing. Still, the novel’s compelling side characters and well-researched historical backdrop are redeeming enough to make it attractive for fans of this genre.
A straightforward time-travel story that never quite fulfills its potential. (author’s note, glossary) (Adventure. 12-16)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64690-019-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Arctis Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play.
Garber returns to the world of bestseller Caraval (2017), this time with the focus on younger, more daring sister Donatella.
Valenda, capital of the empire, is host to the second of Legend’s magical games in a single year, and while Scarlett doesn’t want to play again, blonde Tella is eager for a chance to prove herself. She is haunted by the memory of her death in the last game and by the cursed Deck of Destiny she used as a child which foretold her loveless future. Garber has changed many of the rules of her expanding world, which now appears to be infused with magic and evil Fates. Despite a weak plot and ultraviolet prose (“He tasted like exquisite nightmares and stolen dreams, like the wings of fallen angels, and bottles of fresh moonlight.”), this is a tour de force of imagination. Themes of love, betrayal, and the price of magic (and desire) swirl like Caraval’s enchantments, and Dante’s sensuous kisses will thrill readers as much as they do Tella. The convoluted machinations of the Prince of Hearts (one of the Fates), Legend, and even the empress serve as the impetus for Tella’s story and set up future volumes which promise to go bigger. With descriptions focusing primarily on clothing, characters’ ethnicities are often indeterminate.
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play. (glossary) (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-09531-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful.
January 1945: as Russians advance through East Prussia, four teens’ lives converge in hopes of escape.
Returning to the successful formula of her highly lauded debut, Between Shades of Gray (2011), Sepetys combines research (described in extensive backmatter) with well-crafted fiction to bring to life another little-known story: the sinking (from Soviet torpedoes) of the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff. Told in four alternating voices—Lithuanian nurse Joana, Polish Emilia, Prussian forger Florian, and German soldier Alfred—with often contemporary cadences, this stints on neither history nor fiction. The three sympathetic refugees and their motley companions (especially an orphaned boy and an elderly shoemaker) make it clear that while the Gustloff was a German ship full of German civilians and soldiers during World War II, its sinking was still a tragedy. Only Alfred, stationed on the Gustloff, lacks sympathy; almost a caricature, he is self-delusional, unlikable, a Hitler worshiper. As a vehicle for exposition, however, and a reminder of Germany’s role in the war, he serves an invaluable purpose that almost makes up for the mustache-twirling quality of his petty villainy. The inevitability of the ending (including the loss of several characters) doesn’t change its poignancy, and the short chapters and slowly revealed back stories for each character guarantee the pages keep turning.
Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful. (author’s note, research and sources, maps) (Historical fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-16030-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
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