Not quite as exciting or satisfying as its predecessor, this novel still delivers an appealing continuation of the elixir...
Two American teenagers embark on a mission to track down the foremost expert on a powerful potion in this sequel to DeBruce’s YA thriller The Riddle of Prague (2013).
It’s 1991, and Hana Silna, 18, is returning to America after a summer in Prague, where she reclaimed the family home for her mother (ill with a rare and dangerous blood condition) while battling ruthless forces in search of an ancient elixir that supposedly cures diseases and confers near-immortality. (She learned that those who use the rare substance “can die by fire, guns, drowning and other trauma, yet they’re immune to most maladies, infections and old age.”) In Prague, Hana met and befriended Alex Williams, a motorcycle-riding American who was also seeking the potion to save his sister, who has a fatal illness. As the sequel opens, Hana receives a flask of the elixir—but no clue how to use it, and a mistake would be fatal. One who knows the secret to handling the potion, as well as its source, is Valentina, a legendary Immortal. In Paris, Alex joins Hana in the hunt for Valentina by following clues left in a painting. Friends aid the pair—but it’s a race against time, because a threatening cadre intends to steal the flask, find Valentina, and force her to reveal the mysterious source. DeBruce again shows her talent for fast pacing and memorably eccentric characters, such as orange-haired dowsing detective Geerdina Singh: “I am Dutch by birth, Indian by marriage and a child of the universe.” Nadja, a Gypsy Immortal who was a mysterious character in the first novel, gets a fuller back story here; no longer just a shadowy nemesis, she reveals a deeply emotional side as well as intelligence and penetration: “He’s the type of man who likes to take up as much space as possible,” she thinks perceptively about a boorish American. But the Paris setting is less compelling than Prague, and many threads are left dangling at the book’s end, perhaps because it’s the middle volume in a planned trilogy.
Not quite as exciting or satisfying as its predecessor, this novel still delivers an appealing continuation of the elixir story.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Quicksilver Legacy Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship.
A battered girl and an injured rugby star spark up an ill-advised romance at an Irish secondary school.
Beautiful, waiflike, 15-year-old Shannon has lived her entire life in Ballylaggin. Alternately bullied at school and beaten by her ne’er-do-well father, she’s hopeful for a fresh start at Tommen, a private school. Seventeen-year-old Johnny, who has a hair-trigger temper and a severe groin injury, is used to Dublin’s elite-level rugby but, since his family’s move to County Cork, is now stuck captaining Tommen’s middling team. When Johnny angrily kicks a ball and knocks Shannon unconscious (“a soft female groan came from her lips”), a tentative relationship is born. As the two grow closer, Johnny’s past and Shannon’s present become serious obstacles to their budding love, threatening Shannon’s safety. Shannon’s portrayal feels infantilized (“I looked down at the tiny little female under my arm”), while Johnny comes across as borderline obsessive (“I knew I shouldn’t be touching her, but how the hell could I not?”). Uneven pacing and choppy sentences lead to a sudden climax and an unsatisfyingly abrupt ending. Repetitive descriptions, abundant and misogynistic dialogue (Johnny, to his best friend: “who’s the bitch with a vagina now?”), and graphic violence also weigh down this lengthy tome (considerably trimmed down from its original, self-published length). The cast of lively, well-developed supporting characters, especially Johnny’s best friend and Shannon’s protective older brother, is a bright spot. Major characters read white.
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship. (author’s note, pronunciations, glossary, song moments, playlists) (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781728299945
Page Count: 626
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
A sparse, beautifully drawn story about a teen discovering her heritage.
In this YA graphic novel, an alienated Métis girl learns about her people’s Canadian history.
Métis teenager Echo Desjardins finds herself living in a home away from her mother, attending a new school, and feeling completely lonely as a result. She daydreams in class and wanders the halls listening to a playlist of her mother’s old CDs. At home, she shuts herself up in her room. But when her history teacher begins to lecture about the Pemmican Wars of early 1800s Saskatchewan, Echo finds herself swept back to that time. She sees the Métis people following the bison with their mobile hunting camp, turning the animals’ meat into pemmican, which they sell to the Northwest Company in order to buy supplies for the winter. Echo meets a young girl named Marie, who introduces Echo to the rhythms of Métis life. She finally understands what her Métis heritage actually means. But the joys are short-lived, as conflicts between the Métis and their rivals in the Hudson Bay Company come to a bloody head. The tragic history of her people will help explain the difficulties of the Métis in Echo’s own time, including those of her mother and the teen herself. Accompanied by dazzling art by Henderson (A Blanket of Butterflies, 2017, etc.) and colorist Yaciuk (Fire Starters, 2016, etc.), this tale is a brilliant bit of time travel. Readers are swept back to 19th-century Saskatchewan as fully as Echo herself. Vermette’s (The Break, 2017, etc.) dialogue is sparse, offering a mostly visual, deeply contemplative juxtaposition of the present and the past. Echo’s eventual encounter with her mother (whose fate has been kept from readers up to that point) offers a powerful moment of connection that is both unexpected and affecting. “Are you…proud to be Métis?” Echo asks her, forcing her mother to admit, sheepishly: “I don’t really know much about it.” With this series opener, the author provides a bit more insight into what that means.
A sparse, beautifully drawn story about a teen discovering her heritage.Pub Date: March 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-55379-678-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HighWater Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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