Engaging enough to keep Kate’s legions of fans happy.
The long-standing Fallen series continues with bad boy fallen angel Cam trying to win back his lost love from ancient Israel, entering into a deal with the devil to do it.
In 1,000 B.C.E. Cam and Lilith fell in love, but Cam broke Lilith’s heart. Now he learns something he has been unaware of for millennia: Lilith has been in Hell all this time. He meets with Lucifer, who shows him via endless snow globe–style worlds how Lilith has been in one Hell after the other for millennia. Cam accepts a deal: if he does not win Lilith’s heart in two weeks, he will become Lucifer’s slave for eternity. The difficulty is that Lilith hates Cam, so he will have to break through that hatred to turn things around. In her current Hell, Lilith lives in poverty and attends a horrible high school that runs seven days per week with no holidays and where she is bullied by students and teachers alike. Cam joins in as a new student and uses Lilith’s deep musical talent to try to win her love. However, Lucifer turns up in the form of Luc, a music promoter, to deceive Lilith into believing that Cam is untrustworthy. Nevertheless, Cam continues his efforts to win her over, despite the fact that Lucifer is aging him from a handsome boy into a dumpy, balding, unattractive guy. Will Lilith be able to see through Lucifer’s deceptions and regain the love she felt for Cam so long ago? It’s all pretty soapy, but Kate delivers for her fans, her snow-globe world plausible if not entirely original, and keeps suspense high enough to keep readers turning pages.
Engaging enough to keep Kate’s legions of fans happy. (Paranormal romance. 12-18)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-74263-4
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
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