The plotting is powerful enough to carry most readers past flaws and into the next book in the series.
In a Russian-inflected fantasy world, an orphan comes into immense power and, with it, danger.
When the Grisha came to test inseparable friends Alina and Malyen, neither showed any aptitude for the Small Science. Years later, they are in the army, Alina in the cartographer corps and Mal a tracker. They are escorting the Darkling, the most powerful Grisha in the land, across the terrifying Shadow Fold that divides Ravka’s heart from its coast. An attack by the terrifying volcra brings forth a power Alina never knew she had: She is a Sun Summoner. The charismatic, quartz-eyed Darkling takes her to the palace to learn the art of the Etherealki, and Mal is left behind. Bardugo allows the details of Grisha magic to unfold with limited exposition, using Alina's ignorance for readers' benefit. While Alina's training borrows familiar tropes (outlander combat teacher, wizened-crone magic instructor, friends and enemies among her peers), readers will nevertheless cheer her progress. But the worldbuilding is continually undercut by clunky colloquialisms; such phrases as "Well, that's completely creepy" and "It's okay" yank readers out of this carefully constructed, mostly preindustrial world. Readers may also be troubled by the sexualization of power found in its pages.
The plotting is powerful enough to carry most readers past flaws and into the next book in the series. (classification of Grisha types, map [not seen]) (Fantasy. 13 & up)Pub Date: June 5, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9459-6
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
For fans of brooding bad boys and the pastel goth accidental necromancers who love them.
A deaf scholarship student at an occult university is plagued by ghosts.
Delaney Meyers-Petrov is so done with being treated like she’s fragile, but she’s not sure if she can hack it at Howe University, where the interdimensional travel program is mostly White, old-money kids who’ve been training for this their whole lives. Between the school’s lack of accommodations and her own internalized ableism, she is struggling, and her cochlear implant doesn’t help enough for her to keep up. Laney’s grateful for assistance from her (hot, muscular, rude) TA, Colton Price, but he hates her for some reason. Little does Laney know that Colton’s part of an occult boys’ club which plays with the boundary of death itself—a boundary Colton’s already crossed once. Laney, a girl with an extremely deliberate goth-adorable aesthetic, is well served by the purple prose (“the shadow-bitten arch of the doorway,” “suckling on the teat of decay”) and dialogue that wobbles between angst and snark in the style of teen paranormal television. Her unusual necromantic powers make her an irresistible target for the power players at Howe (where every figure with power and authority is male, and her peers and allies are all female), but at least Colton is sexy while he deceives and manipulates her. The worldbuilding is shaky but the romantic agita and ironic wit are present in spades. Most characters default to White.
For fans of brooding bad boys and the pastel goth accidental necromancers who love them. (Paranormal romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-80947-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A swoonworthy romance blending strong character development with realistic portrayal of the grieving process.
A cosmic mixed-up breakfast order pushes two Black teens into a merged time loop.
It’s September 24, and Sydney is running late for school, where she’ll have to take a dreaded precalc test. She stops at Dunkin’ for a sausage, egg, and cheese croissant—without the sausage and egg—and bumps into a boy named Marcus. Strangely, they have the same order number and similar tastes, only he’s ordered a sausage, egg, and cheese croissant with no cheese. Marcus invites Sydney to join him for breakfast at a nearby park, and she agrees, figuring that she can make up the test tomorrow. They spend the day together, but as their date winds down and they lean in for a kiss, they hear screeching tires, feel intense pain, and see a blinding light. Sydney wakes up to find it’s September 24 again, but she remembers her day with Marcus. They reconnect at Dunkin’ and begin reliving the same day, including always being painfully ripped apart at 10:15 p.m. Over time, the teens open up to each other about painful losses that still affect them. Readers witness the well-developed evolution of their relationship and their different responses: Sydney wants them to break free from the cycle, while Marcus sees getting stuck with Sydney as a welcome reprieve from grief. Thomas excels at blending meet-cute elements with more serious themes.
A swoonworthy romance blending strong character development with realistic portrayal of the grieving process. (content note, playlist) (Romance. 13-18)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9781546111788
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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