An ambitious tale with an exuberant heroine who manipulates time but that lacks a lucid plot and believable villain.
Three teenage sisters with extraordinary powers explore their abilities in Calderoni’s debut novel, the first in a young-adult trilogy.
First-person narrator Emerald Tempest and her older sisters, Mia and Terra, have always been special, gifted with “charms,” as they call them. This might seem magical to an outside observer, but according to Em, the charms are all rooted in physics. Em is able to manipulate time, making it seem to speed up or slow down. Mia can interact with different dimensions of the multiverse, “like tuning into a radio station.” And Terra can both sense and alter the vibrational energy of animate and inanimate objects. The sisters live in Santa Cruz, California, with their mother. The story takes off when Em develops a crush on Ryan Laurent, a new boy in town from New Orleans. (She muses: “I’ve never felt about a boy the way I feel about Ryan, and this is the first time I’ve had to find a place inside me for the feelings and questions that come with thinking about someone in this way.”) But his twin brother, Colin, threatens their burgeoning romance. A dark and moody soul, Colin becomes obsessed with finding a special book that he believes the girls’ Aunt Eva has taken from their family and which holds the key to time and dimensional travel. The sisters decide to investigate whether Eva, who has a history of drifting into and out of their lives, has indeed taken the volume and why Colin is so desperate to find it. The novel has many striking attributes, including a strongly developed, likable protagonist; an engaging writing style; and a distinctive magic system. But the tale feels underdeveloped, with too many unexplained, disconnected threads. It never gives the sisters the chance to fully use their powers, making the charms feel more like window dressing than vital story components. And the plot turns Colin into such a broadly drawn baddie that he fails to register as a real person. The narrative ends abruptly on a twist that, while intriguing, makes it feel as if the last pages of the novel are missing
An ambitious tale with an exuberant heroine who manipulates time but that lacks a lucid plot and believable villain.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9967046-0-1
Page Count: 190
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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