Intense but uneven.
An 1880s traveling circus star wishes to be more than a monster on display.
Born with feathers, a beak, and solid black eyes, Avita is the apple of her father’s eye and his circus’s most profitable act, biting the heads off live chickens for crowds. The book’s opening lavishly sets the stage, including the circus’s garish delights—such as star stripper Luna, Avita’s beautiful, icy older sister, described as being “sex itself” even at 14 and working the “kootchie tent” since before her first period. Her brother—“born with dwarfism” but too many physical ailments to perform—is the circus’s brainy manager and their father’s punching bag. Avita’s first-person, past-tense narration vacillates wildly between being a true believer in her ringmaster father’s vision and a more jaded view; the end result is jarring. Other characters’ viewpoints include both the past and present tenses. Most interesting about Avita’s characterization is how she views her “hideous” face as a blessing even as she wishes people would look past it; less interesting is her leaning into self-objectification. Avita’s first crush kick-starts her quest to be seen as more than a monster as her family travels to a portentous city—and a showdown with their greatest rival. Surprisingly humanizing at heart is the unraveling family’s dynamic, set amid a coarse, exploitative environment run by a charismatic, tyrannical showman. Unfortunately, Avita’s eventual triumphant ending rings hollow and pat. Central characters are cued White; there is diversity in the supporting cast.
Intense but uneven. (Fabulism. 17-adult)Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9235-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2022
The well-paced romantic tension is a highlight of this enjoyable duology closer.
Even a war driven by gods can’t sever communication between journalist lovers Iris and Roman in this steampunk-adjacent romantic adventure.
A prologue sets the scene: Dacre, a god strummed to sleep by magic in Divine Rivals (2023), will not slumber forever. His willingness to wage war to acquire more powerful magic leads him to lay waste to entire towns, and Inkridden Tribune journalist Iris Winnow and war correspondent Roman Kitt can no longer be assured the other is safe—or even still alive. In Iris’ world of cigarette smoke, copper pipes, and driving goggles, colleagues affectionately call each other by their last names, watch each other’s backs, and face danger on the front lines. Though Underling Correspondent Roman is traveling with Dacre’s army, he questions why he was healed of his grievous wounds, while at the same time, he gradually recovers memories of Iris and recalls that she was special to him. Their magically connected typewriters allow for the rediscovery of their love and for communicating potentially deadly information about the invasion of Hawk Shire. The story primarily unfolds from Iris’ and Roman’s viewpoints, and while the prose occasionally uses well-worn phrases, Anglophiles will particularly enjoy the worldbuilding, and returning readers will welcome appearances from Capt. Keegan Torres; her wife, Marisol; and Dacre’s archnemesis—and wife—the goddess Enva. Main characters present white.
The well-paced romantic tension is a highlight of this enjoyable duology closer. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250857453
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
Truly fantastic.
This dark fantasy duology opener has a magic school, a death, and five students who find themselves stranded in the wilderness.
Ren Monroe is a promising student wizard at Balmerick, a private school in the city of Kathor. Along with her best friend, Timmons, Ren is one of the few welfare students attending on a scholarship, and despite being one of the most accomplished people at the school, finding a placement in one of the top houses is proving difficult and is a hurdle in the way of the secret mission Ren has set out to accomplish. When a portal spell goes awry and Ren, Timmons, and four other students from different walks of life are thrown together into the Dires, an uncharted land where the last dragons lived, one of them ends up dead and the rest need to learn to work together to make their way back home before they succumb to the harsh environment or the terrifying revenant following them. This may well be the chance Ren was looking for to prove her worth. Placing elements of a locked-room mystery and an original magic system within the familiar trappings of a school for magic, this is a no-holds-barred tale of revenge, atonement, and the pursuit of justice set in a world diverse in skin color and social classes. Ren is a protagonist for the ages: equal parts smart, calculating, and ruthless, forming a lethal package as an avenging angel.
Truly fantastic. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-66591-868-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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