A world ruled by Hitler ought to evoke at least a smidgen of horror, but this overstuffed slog overwhelms the horrifyingly...
Dark secrets abound in the last human enclave two generations after the Nazis created vampirism and took over the world.
Sophie lives in Haven, the Pacific island nation where humanity retreated after the truce with the undead Third Reich (if there were prior residents, they're invisible in mostly occidental Haven). Sophie adores her secret vampire boyfriend, Val, to whom she smells "intoxicating." Val hides secrets of his own: as a human, he was engaged to Sophie's grandmother; later, he had a fling with Sophie's mother. More important than Val's incestuous affections is his knowledge of who is murdering everyone Sophie loves. He won't tell her, so Sophie's willing to investigate even into the Third Reich, if she must. Bramble’s New York—Gestapo-controlled, vampire-overrun—shows no sign of the evils to be expected of even a human Führer, aside from one appallingly unconcerned mention that nearly all Jews have been murdered. This book’s moral compass is seriously skewed. As Sophie adventures with cinematic intensity, she knows she's unlike the prejudiced Havenites, for she comprehends morality in shades of gray. Why, this sophisticated miss understands that human misdeeds in the fight for survival against total annihilation are comparable to the horrors of Auschwitz, an equation drawn with a straight narrative face.
A world ruled by Hitler ought to evoke at least a smidgen of horror, but this overstuffed slog overwhelms the horrifyingly real vileness of Nazism with vampiric banalities. (Science fiction. 13-15)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-63079-017-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Switch/Capstone
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
What could be interesting worldbuilding drowns in infelicitous prose and inexplicable machinations
Urban fantasy whose original ideas aren't sustained by the overall package.
In this sequel to Lightbringer (2011), Wendy just tries to survive in the complicated dual world she inhabits. She's inherited the duties of a Reaper from her mother, who recently died and then became an evil adversary—in that order. Wendy exists simultaneously in the worlds of the living and the dead, taking care of her siblings in the real world but using her Light to destroy maggoty Walkers in the parallel Never, the world of the dead. When a new and dangerous opponent arises among the dead, Wendy's erstwhile (and deceased) boyfriend, Piotr, navigates the overly complex metaphysics and politics of the Never in an attempt to help her. Meanwhile, Wendy discovers a never-known family of aunts, grandmothers and female cousins, Reapers all, and most definitely not on her side. Realism is not enhanced by Piotr's friends: Lily, who, like the Tiger Lily of Peter Pan for whom she is named, plays generic exotic Indian rather than an individual from an actual tribe, and ghostly flapper Elle, whose Damon Runyon–esque dialogue ("it's the cat's meow to doll up and ritz it up for a night again") feels as forced as Piotr's frequent das and nyets.
What could be interesting worldbuilding drowns in infelicitous prose and inexplicable machinations . (Fantasy. 13-15)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-61614-632-0
Page Count: 340
Publisher: Pyr/Prometheus Books
Review Posted Online: June 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In the end, choppy prose and the present tense make this moody, dreamlike tale of a special girl in a religious dystopia...
A young woman comes of age in an isolated community with stifling codes of conduct.
Emmeline, not quite 16, lives in a settlement of 600-odd people huddled in hungry solitude in the frozen north. With her birthday approaching, Emmeline isn’t looking forward to her coming-of-age, when leering Brother Stockham of the settlement’s leadership will begin to court her in earnest. Disabled, suffering from chronic pain, prone to self-harm and Stained by the Wayward actions of her long-dead grandma’am, Emmeline should be grateful for Brother Stockham’s attentions, but she prefers Kane, a quiet, handsome boy her own age. Perhaps her dreams will lead her to the Lost People and win her the respect she needs to choose her own partner. This slightly magical alternate history features the Canadian prairie as an unpeopled wilderness save for this mix of Francophones, Anglophones, and trilingual mixed-race Métis who speak French, English and First People’s languages such as Cree and M’ikmaq. Worldbuilding suffers despite its potential. Nonsensically, after five generations, the settlement’s people haven’t managed to form a mutually intelligible pidgin, and the language groups don’t mix (except when they do) and don’t understand one another’s languages (but seem to have no problem doing so).
In the end, choppy prose and the present tense make this moody, dreamlike tale of a special girl in a religious dystopia read just like all the others . (Fantasy. 13-15)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4197-1235-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
