A darkly imaginative thriller featuring plenty of sharp characters and emotional complexity.
A teen becomes an apprentice to a murderous fanatic with an incredible power in this supernatural novel.
Jack Harper was 7 years old when she first killed a person. In his mansion’s basement, Cyrus Harper instructed his adopted daughter to use a butterfly needle on Roland James’ neck, bleeding him out. And yet later that night, Roland was alive and well. Cyrus has a power, coming from a secret source, that can resurrect the dead, heal the sick, or simply rejuvenate the weary. He’s decided to raise Jack alongside his own son, Alex, while building an organization dedicated to “devolution, chaos, and the downfall of innocence.” By destroying innocence, Cyrus may “ascend” beyond the mortal confines of humanity. Throughout her teen years, Jack learns finer things, such as playing the piano, but also how to kill remorselessly. She comes to learn that Cyrus’ power draws from a living being locked in a hidden basement chamber. Eventually, Cyrus wants 17-year-old Jack to help oversee his burgeoning flock of devotees that he assembles from the needy and homeless. She sees in action a monstrous supernatural force that disintegrates those who have betrayed Cyrus. Jack has never imagined turning against her father figure. But his ultimate plan to destroy innocent life is so shocking and violent that she decides she must stop him. In this series opener, Barlow breathes life into an exceedingly dark fantasy that should leave readers terrified of the outcome. Key to Cyrus’ power is an oblong red box that coughs up black stones marked with the name of whoever has pivoted from the cause. The author’s delightful game, then, is to help her protagonist outmaneuver this box. Jack, meanwhile, uses heroin to forget the faces of her victims. The prose captures the dismal truth of being in an abusive relationship with lines like “Reality was a bit like a funnel, and all of it led to Cyrus.” Thankfully, Jack meets a wise woman named Margaret Whilhelm, who says: “There are things in the world that make you more you than your origins.” A savvy finale adds several new pieces to the game board, making the sequel unmissable.
A darkly imaginative thriller featuring plenty of sharp characters and emotional complexity.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-64428-053-9
Page Count: 238
Publisher: Rare Bird Books
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Well-drawn characters introduce the criminal underworld to the occult kind in a breathless and compelling plot.
A Yale sophomore fights for her life as she balances academics with supernatural extracurriculars in this smart fantasy thriller, the second in a series.
Galaxy “Alex” Stern is a member of Lethe House, the ninth of Yale’s secret societies. And not just any member—she’s Virgil, the officer who conducts the society's rituals. In the world of Bardugo’s Alex Stern series, Yale’s secret societies command not just powerful social networks, but actual magic; it’s Lethe’s job to keep that magic in control. Alex is new to the role. She had to take over in a hurry after the previous Virgil, Darlington, her mentor and love interest, disappeared in a cliffhanger at the end of the first book. He appears to be in hell, but is he stuck there for good? Alex and Pamela Dawes—Lethe’s Oculus, or archivist/administrator—have found a reference to a pathway called a Gauntlet that can open a portal to hell, but can they find the Gauntlet itself? And what about the four murderers the Gauntlet ritual requires? Meanwhile, Alex’s past as a small-time drug dealer is catching up with her, adding gritty street crime to the demonic white-collar evil the Yale crowd tends to prefer. The plot is relentless and clever, and the writing is vivid, intelligent, and funny at just the right moments, but best of all are the complex characters, such as the four murderers, each with a backstory that makes it possible for the reader to trust them to enter hell and have the strength to leave again. Like the first book, this one ends with a cliffhanger.
Well-drawn characters introduce the criminal underworld to the occult kind in a breathless and compelling plot.Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-31310-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
With an aura of both enchantment and authenticity, Bardugo’s compulsively readable novel leaves a portal ajar for equally...
Yale’s secret societies hide a supernatural secret in this fantasy/murder mystery/school story.
Most Yale students get admitted through some combination of impressive academics, athletics, extracurriculars, family connections, and donations, or perhaps bribing the right coach. Not Galaxy “Alex” Stern. The protagonist of Bardugo’s (King of Scars, 2019, etc.) first novel for adults, a high school dropout and low-level drug dealer, Alex got in because she can see dead people. A Yale dean who's a member of Lethe, one of the college’s famously mysterious secret societies, offers Alex a free ride if she will use her spook-spotting abilities to help Lethe with its mission: overseeing the other secret societies’ occult rituals. In Bardugo’s universe, the “Ancient Eight” secret societies (Lethe is the eponymous Ninth House) are not just old boys’ breeding grounds for the CIA, CEOs, Supreme Court justices, and so on, as they are in ours; they’re wielders of actual magic. Skull and Bones performs prognostications by borrowing patients from the local hospital, cutting them open, and examining their entrails. St. Elmo’s specializes in weather magic, useful for commodities traders; Aurelian, in unbreakable contracts; Manuscript goes in for glamours, or “illusions and lies,” helpful to politicians and movie stars alike. And all these rituals attract ghosts. It’s Alex’s job to keep the supernatural forces from embarrassing the magical elite by releasing chaos into the community (all while trying desperately to keep her grades up). “Dealing with ghosts was like riding the subway: Do not make eye contact. Do not smile. Do not engage. Otherwise, you never know what might follow you home.” A townie’s murder sets in motion a taut plot full of drug deals, drunken assaults, corruption, and cover-ups. Loyalties stretch and snap. Under it all runs the deep, dark river of ambition and anxiety that at once powers and undermines the Yale experience. Alex may have more reason than most to feel like an imposter, but anyone who’s spent time around the golden children of the Ivy League will likely recognize her self-doubt.
With an aura of both enchantment and authenticity, Bardugo’s compulsively readable novel leaves a portal ajar for equally dazzling sequels.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-31307-2
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
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