Thematically intriguing with shocking twists, but overly convoluted.
Teens in high schools that used to be rivals struggle to survive after the world ends.
Before, Kay Kim was Jefferson High’s Student Council secretary, famed for her inability to lie convincingly. For the past nine months, 18-year-old Kay, along with the rest of the student body, has been struggling to survive. Monstrous Growns, formed from the mutilated bodies of the town’s adults, have been killing indiscriminately. Despite sending out jocks to scavenge for food, Jefferson students are starving. The Council holds power through numerous laws. After they exile Kay, she’s given asylum by rival Moore High, where the students—under the rule of King Max, who’s inspired by an online medieval role-playing game, and Merlin, who calls herself a wizard—are well fed and battle ready. Kay hopes they’ll help save her school and find Kyle, Jefferson’s lost president, but instead she becomes embroiled in a tumultuous power struggle. The depiction of the current social hierarchy provides intriguing parallels with the Before times, and Kay’s challenges with dissembling and the importance of truth-telling are recurring themes. While the Growns are gruesome, the mechanics behind their creation require a suspension of disbelief. Similarly, the individual plot elements are intriguing and surprising, but they become overly complicated, diluting the impact of the new post-apocalyptic normal. The easily anticipated romance is a believable slow burn. Kay’s surname cues Korean ancestry; there’s some racial diversity among side characters.
Thematically intriguing with shocking twists, but overly convoluted. (Post-apocalyptic. 14-18)Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9781635830965
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Flux
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations.
Magic, mystery, and love intertwine and invite in this newest take on the “enchanted circus” trope.
Sisters raised by their abusive father, a governor of a colonial backwater in a world vaguely reminiscent of the late 18th century, Scarlett and Donatella each long for something more. Scarlett, olive-skinned, dark of hair and attitude, longs for Caraval, the fabled, magical circus helmed by the possibly evil Master Legend Santos, while blonde, sunny Tella finds comfort in drink and the embraces of various men. A slightly awkward start, with inconsistencies of attitude and setting, rapidly smooths out when they, along with handsome “golden-brown” sailor Julian, flee to Caraval on the eve of Scarlett’s arranged marriage. Tella disappears, and Scarlett must navigate a nighttime world of magic to find her. Caraval delights the senses: beautiful and scary, described in luscious prose, this is a show readers will wish they could enter. Dresses can be purchased for secrets or days of life; clocks can become doors; bridges move: this is an inventive and original circus, laced with an edge of horror. A double love story, one sensual romance and the other sisterly loyalty, anchors the plot, but the real star here is Caraval and its secrets.
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations. (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-09525-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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