There’s action, romance and mysticism, but ultimately, it doesn’t seem to lead anywhere.
Emma was having enough trouble with high school—and then she discovered she was destined to save the world.
Debut novelist Ashley provides more YA grist for the mill of contemporary American adolescence in the first volume of a planned trilogy. Emma thought she was just a typical alienated high school student. Now she’s suddenly going into trances, magically deflecting the unwanted attention of teachers asking questions she can’t answer, and fomenting cafeteria food fights with her mind. And there’s the cute new guy in school, Connor, whose flattering attentions lead to attempted murder. Emma, it turns out, is the descendant of a race of vaguely angelic beings called El-ahren; after a schism, four of the ruling Eidolon underwent a ritual transition to human form, called Chimeran. Emma has been born and reborn for millennia, waiting for the time, which is now, when she will Awaken, so she can find the Chimeran and prevent their ancient enemy, Malum, from overwhelming the world with his evil. Emma is guarded and trained by a small cadre—the motherly Kiana; the wise Sebastian; her ex, Jordan; the class grump, Griffin; and, to Emma’s surprise, her best friend, Sarah. Emma’s Awakening alerts the opposing Sicarians to her existence, and the group must go on the run while simultaneously searching for the hidden Chimeran. Emma’s first-person narration sounds authentically adolescent, with her obsessions about her appearance and burgeoning sexuality. This does, however, lead to some narrative dissonance; the death of Emma’s aunt in a Sicarian-set house fire, the reactions of her girlfriends to seeing Emma back together with Jordan, and the discovery that she is meant to save the world all rouse her to the same level of sullen despair. The specific mythic underpinning of the plot and the identities and loyalties of the various factions are difficult to follow—what matters is that Emma is chosen and has powers, whether she likes it or not. It becomes difficult to decide whether sentences like “As quickly as the bubonic plague spread through Europe, goosebumps broke out across my arms as I started literally freaking out” are accurate evocations of teenage hyperbole or just awkward writing. Sadly, the consistent misuse of “don” for “dawn” and the fact that everything happens “immediately” or “suddenly” leads one to suspect the latter.
There’s action, romance and mysticism, but ultimately, it doesn’t seem to lead anywhere.Pub Date: May 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-1478350071
Page Count: 518
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
By turns inspiring and underwhelming, this compendium is more of a yearbook for the B-List group than a useful guide for...
A collection of screenwriting discussions by little-known and unproduced screenwriters.
This peculiar book is a collection of postings on craft by a group of predominantly aspiring screenwriters. In 2003, Von Altendorf, a former independent filmmaker, began hosting the A-List, an online discussion group on the website of American Zoetrope’s Virtual Studio. After abruptly pulling the plug on the popular group and disappearing for many years, Von Altendorf remerged on Zoetrope in 2010 and began hosting the B-List, the group whose dialogues and musings are presented in this volume. The postings are grouped into chapters on aspects of craft, such as Audience Bonding and Story Development, but, disappointingly, many discussions are rushed—advice on plot, character and theme gets a mere five pages—and the absence of a substantial discussion on dialogue seems like an obvious oversight. However, some of the selections, particularly those by Von Altendorf, are redeemed by a true passion for craft. His tips, such as his method of analyzing screenplays using “scene cards” or his thoughts on making scripts appealing to low-budget filmmakers, are pithy and informative. Unfortunately, many of the postings are simply padding: aimless, repetitive and of limited value to readers not familiar with the group members’ professional struggles. The few brief samples of contributors’ works struggles to establish their credentials as master craftspeople, and there are no selections from produced scripts to show their analyses in action (a close reading of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders is promised but never materializes). Von Altendorf describes his Hollywood career as having been “cut short” and his contacts are as “stale as dry cheese,” yet his entertaining style and the tantalizing biographical snippets sprinkled throughout his sections—his remembrance of the late actor/director Alejandro Rey is the book’s highlight—suggest that he would be an excellent candidate for memoir. Maybe even a biopic.
By turns inspiring and underwhelming, this compendium is more of a yearbook for the B-List group than a useful guide for writing screenplays.Pub Date: July 25, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 263
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An exciting story that will satisfy readers seeking thoughtful political thrillers.
CIA agent David Harrim crisscrosses the Middle East in pursuit of a mysterious terrorist mastermind with a plot to spawn global jihad.
In Westmont’s suspenseful debut, Harrim races from Afghanistan to Jordan, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in pursuit of the rich and mysterious terrorist known only as Abdullah. David must discover Abdullah’s real identity and plans before millions of innocent victims are killed, including himself. But David isn’t a typical agent. He is the child of mixed parentage, an Israeli mother and a Palestinian father who split up and embarked on radically different paths when David was a child. As the story progresses, not only does David strive to prevent potential mass devastation, but he also directly confronts his past and the decisions he and his family have made. At critical points, he narrowly escapes death with the aid of two female agents—one Israeli and one Iranian; each has her own motivations for helping him, though they are less interested in helping each other. Westmont tells a story full of action and intrigue that readers will recognize as all too plausible in a post-9/11 world. What makes the novel compelling, though, is the care taken to examine the local customs, motivations and histories of nearly all of the characters—Western and Middle Eastern. These are characters with doubts and desires, haunted by their personal histories and by their actions in the present. Westmont’s investigation of his characters’ anger and fear is believable and subtle and adds emotional complexity to his novel. There are a few minor typos a proofreader could have caught, and occasionally the dialogue sounds artificial, but these problems are infrequent in a novel that is smart and fast paced with well-rounded characters and convincing detail.
An exciting story that will satisfy readers seeking thoughtful political thrillers.Pub Date: June 8, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615568881
Page Count: 338
Publisher: Westwoods Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
