Despite its topical pandemic plot, the novel brings nothing new to the genre.
“No touching today for a healthy tomorrow.”
After a deadly pandemic wiped out most of the world’s population 50 years ago, the Key Corp has emerged as humanity’s savior by creating shielding technology, imposing laws against touching, and controlling every aspect of life, from matching teens with significant others to assigning their careers paths from a very young age. Elodie is a nurse matched to a fiance she is not too sure about, but since questioning the Key is unheard of, she complies. Aiden is a rebel with a secret, changing career paths frequently until he is threatened with Rehabilitation and ends up working at the morgue. When Elodie and Aiden meet, everything changes, and Elodie starts to question everything she has been told. First in a new series, the novel fails to impart the fear necessary for its worldbuilding to work, between its risible villains, a too-easy-to-infiltrate evil corporation, and a sketchily developed connection between the main characters. The rules imposed by the Key Corp crumble under scrutiny, and the public’s overall conformity and compliance with them seem utterly implausible: Touching and sex are illegal and harshly punished, yet teenagers are still matched, married off, and expected to live together and start families (though babies are grown in laboratories). Elodie and Aiden are both brown-skinned.
Despite its topical pandemic plot, the novel brings nothing new to the genre. (Science fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-982548-03-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Blackstone
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
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
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations.
Magic, mystery, and love intertwine and invite in this newest take on the “enchanted circus” trope.
Sisters raised by their abusive father, a governor of a colonial backwater in a world vaguely reminiscent of the late 18th century, Scarlett and Donatella each long for something more. Scarlett, olive-skinned, dark of hair and attitude, longs for Caraval, the fabled, magical circus helmed by the possibly evil Master Legend Santos, while blonde, sunny Tella finds comfort in drink and the embraces of various men. A slightly awkward start, with inconsistencies of attitude and setting, rapidly smooths out when they, along with handsome “golden-brown” sailor Julian, flee to Caraval on the eve of Scarlett’s arranged marriage. Tella disappears, and Scarlett must navigate a nighttime world of magic to find her. Caraval delights the senses: beautiful and scary, described in luscious prose, this is a show readers will wish they could enter. Dresses can be purchased for secrets or days of life; clocks can become doors; bridges move: this is an inventive and original circus, laced with an edge of horror. A double love story, one sensual romance and the other sisterly loyalty, anchors the plot, but the real star here is Caraval and its secrets.
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations. (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-09525-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
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