Well-paced action and mystery for an appealing heroine, complete with Cold War attitudes
In 1964, a psychic Russian teen works with the CIA to prevent war with the Soviet Union.
Yulia Andreevna Chernina has defected to the United States to escape the KGB's psychic espionage program. Her old handlers groomed her ability to read thoughts and memories in order to crush dissidents and provoke a war between the USSR and the USA. In the freedom and creativity of America, she joins with other psychics to defeat the plans of the KGB psychic team—a team that is led in part by Yulia's mother. Yulia develops her psychic skills at the CIA's behest, but she doesn't think she can defeat the tyrannical Russians' powerful thought scrubbers. A pervading dread, disorientation and paranoia thoroughly soak her believable voice. The magnitude of her reasonable fears is most apparent from outside; when Yulia psychically thrusts her emotions into other characters, the external glimpse of her deep anxiety is troubling even to her. Smith's Washington, D.C., is dense with 1960s flavor. Though some of the well-researched historical events and people are sprinkled in without context or explanation, the colorfully described clothing, music and even racial tensions bring the era to light. As Yulia fights to save her family and prevent a war in a world filled with psychic powers and political maneuvering, she has to reach beyond passivity if she's to succeed.
Well-paced action and mystery for an appealing heroine, complete with Cold War attitudes . (Science fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: April 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62672-005-3
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2015
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes
A gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.
Fifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting—plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers—escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel.
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes . (Science fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25675-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK TO SCREEN
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