A crowded but exciting and fun story of heroes and villains.
When a teenage New Yorker gains amazing powers, he must decide whether to use his newfound abilities for good or for personal gain.
In 1997, Queens native Rohan Chang has a lot on his plate, between family pressure to succeed academically and work at his brother’s pharmacy, racism at school and on the street, and trying to fit in among his fellow students. If that wasn’t enough, one day he finds that he has magical superpowers that include superspeed and teleportation. However, they also come with voices in his head that have different personalities. The loudest of these calls himself Nick the Brute and wants to tempt Rohan into violence and to use his powers for self-enrichment: “When you achieve control, total control, you’ll be invincible.” This is a lot for anyone to handle, of course; all Rohan aspired to do was to impress Amayah, a devout Christian girl on whom he has a crush. To make matters worse, there’s a serial killer on the loose in New York City, and Rohan may be the only one who can stop them; this becomes even more challenging when the murderer learns his identity and seek to destroy him. As Rohan discovers new powers, he struggles to learn how to use them properly. Also, the teen must learn to trust his friends and loved ones in the face of unimaginable dangers. Over the course of this book, Lee delivers an incredibly creative superhero fantasy tale that brings together elements of various cultures, as well as aspects of history and Christianity, into an exciting adventure. The vast, ever increasing number of superpowers feels somewhat excessive at times, but Lee does well to balance this out by showing how the protagonist gradually learns how to use them effectively. Similarly, the large cast of characters makes it challenging to fully appreciate the complexities of each one individually, but the central figures—particularly Rohan and Amayah—carry the story and give it heart. Overall, it’s an entertaining narrative that’s sure to delight genre fans.
A crowded but exciting and fun story of heroes and villains.Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2022
ISBN: 9781945316029
Page Count: 542
Publisher: Bowker
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
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