A bold and bloody series opener.
Dark academia meets deadly magic competition in this thrilling fantasy romp that centers on complex Black Canadian characters.
Seventeen-year-old August Black is lost and lonely, especially now that her brother, Jules, is away at Kingston, Ontario’s Queen’s University. Their father, who has Trinidadian roots, has been working long hours, largely absent following their mother’s sudden disappearance. Depressed, August drinks and isolates herself. But after Jules goes missing too, leaving behind an alarming note (“Monsters are real”), August becomes determined to find him. She accepts an invitation from “hot librarian jock hybrid” Virgil Hawthorne, who witnesses her impressive knife-throwing skills, to join the secretive Learners’ Society, which offers her the opportunity to find answers about Jules. Its mission is to bond with and control people who have mutations that turn them into monsters. They’ll compete in a cutthroat monster-bonding competition that’s Virgil’s last chance to bond before transforming irrevocably into a monster and being locked away forever. August is a sympathetically flawed protagonist, whose journey from directionless loner to empowered champion is well-developed and compelling. As an outsider to the Learners’ Society, her perspective offers an accessible way for readers to learn the worldbuilding lore. Through the metaphor of monsters, Sambury explores salient questions about belonging, justice, mass incarceration, the line between revolution and terrorism, and racism and systemic inequality. The supporting cast is racially diverse.
A bold and bloody series opener. (author’s note, content warning, map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: July 29, 2025
ISBN: 9781665957366
Page Count: 592
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
A fantasy with complex characterization that will build anticipation for the next entry.
Three young people find their places in a world of vengeance and destiny in National Book Award winner Tahir’s duology opener set in the multicultural world of her An Ember in the Ashes series.
Aiz, from the impoverished nation of Kegar, seeks revenge against Tiral bet-Hiwa, an air squadron commander who, as a child, murdered Aiz’s fellow orphans. Guided by a voice claiming to be Mother Div, Kegar’s first queen, Aiz escapes imprisonment after her failed assassination attempt on Tiral and embarks on a journey to free Mother Div’s trapped spirit. In the Martial Empire, Sirsha, a skilled tracker with magical abilities who’s been banished from her homeland, is saved by a stranger who hires her to hunt an unnatural killer. Quil, the crown prince of the Martial Empire, faces an invasion by the Kegari and the lingering threat of a mysterious force responsible for recent murders, including those of two of his loved ones. As the storylines converge, Sirsha and Quil cross paths, leading to revelations about the insidious force. The story explores the blurred line between good and evil and the lengths one will go to for a better life. Tahir’s deep and intricate worldbuilding requires time for readers to fully grasp. Following a slow start, the plot engages as pieces fall into place, leading up to an unexpected ending. The beautiful writing compensates for the romantic relationships, which develop quickly and somewhat inorganically.
A fantasy with complex characterization that will build anticipation for the next entry. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9780593616949
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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