Complicated intrigues under the sea—no simple beach read.
In McHargue’s YA sci-fi novel, a century after an apocalyptic event, a struggling survivor of the catastrophe finds herself conscripted by a high-tech maritime military academy complex.
It’s the year 2183, exactly 100 years after the “Halt” (also called the “Pause”), a disaster in which the planet Earth ceased to rotate. Among the ensuing catastrophes was global flooding, which wiped out most of human civilization. Ing is a teenage girl living in a subsistence-level village populated by scattered survivors. Choosing mates at age 15 is not uncommon now as the human race, with lifespans cut short by environmental hardships and disease, desperately tries to repopulate. But Ing wants to be a “Swimmer,” a member of the male-only order that carries out rituals of burying the community’s dead at sea. Her dying father has trained her in the somewhat taboo art of swimming, and she receives a strange, mystical coin passed down through her family that seems to confirm her destiny as a Swimmer. Ing stumbles onto a seeming impossibility: a high-tech undersea military academy, into which she’s abruptly inducted as a cadet. Ing is trained there “for a lifelong career dedicated to the protection of planet Earth against all enemies, alien or native.” As a surface-dweller, she’s something of an alien herself in the aquatic paramilitary complex, which includes shifty scientists, a quasi-Catholic religious order, a doctor who probably knows more than she’s telling, unsolved disappearances, and, most troublingly, visitations by a gigantic octopus called Calyxar, who may actually be talking to Ing telepathically. Readers primed to expect the umpteenth variation on the standard YA/sci-fi trope of a plucky young hero in a dystopian future triumphing over rigid patriarchy via girl power will be thrown a curve here—the narrative piles on compelling enigmas and builds to a truly cosmic conclusion. Even with a busy plot, an overstuffed cast, and semi-baffling revelations-within-conspiracies, the novel manages to cohere and make sense in the end. The young protagonist discovers sex, though discreetly; the swear words are mostly based on the word flood and its variants.
Complicated intrigues under the sea—no simple beach read.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781945837128
Page Count: 307
Publisher: Strack Press LLC
Review Posted Online: Jan. 6, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sweet if muddled tale of the magic of Appalachia.
A teenage witch goes up against the evil king of the mountain to save a cursed village.
Witch-in-training Verity Vox has spent a year apiece in different villages, helping in any way she can as she learns her art. When it’s time to move on, she receives a sign that shows her where to go next. When the latest sign appears in the form of a note begging for help that floats down on a leaf, she’s eager for the challenge. Verity winds up in Foxfire, a village in the Appalachian mountains that’s been magically cut off from the rest of the world for years, leaving its people close to starvation. The root of their suffering is a man they know as Earl, who lives in the hills and strikes deals with the townspeople that ultimately cause crops to wither, folks to disappear, and the only bridge out of the valley to crumble. Verity is determined to change the villagers’ fortunes, but to do so she’ll have to face off against not just Earl but the ancient power of the mountains itself. Loosely based on the Germanic Erlking legend and told in a voice reminiscent of folktales, the story features a queer romance and a cast that presents white. The convoluted magic system undercuts the strong themes of reciprocity, poverty, and privilege, but Appalachian readers will instantly recognize home.
A sweet if muddled tale of the magic of Appalachia. (Fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2025
ISBN: 9798890032706
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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
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