A dark tale filled with tension and secrets and lightened by two brave companions.
Two young people fight oppression against the backdrop of plague.
During the celebration of Zivah’s initiation as healer, the occupying Amparan soldiers fall ill with the rose plague, forcing Zivah and the other Dara healers to treat them. After days of exposure, Zivah too contracts the disease, but instead of dying, she is rosemarked: contagious, her body marked with rose-colored patches that signal a very short life span likely lived in isolation. Because she saved the life of the Amparan commander, he invites her to Sehmar City to use her healing skills to care for plague-stricken Amparans. Meanwhile, the Dara have allied with the Shidadi, once rivals but now also under the yoke of empire. The leadership decides to use co-narrators Zivah and Dineas, an umbertouched Shidadi warrior who has survived the plague and is now immune, as spies, sending them into the Amparan capital together to find a weakness the oppressed peoples might exploit. Though the author doesn’t quite establish the worldbuilding and time period effectively (is this some far-future Earth or another world entirely?), racial differences exist. Blackburne doles out this information unevenly, causing some confusion for readers, who will not know what the main characters look like until well into the story. (Zivah has light skin and dark hair, while Dineas has brown skin and light hair.) Nevertheless, readers will find the characters engaging, and they will have a sense of the intriguing tribal histories behind them.
A dark tale filled with tension and secrets and lightened by two brave companions. (Fantasy. 12-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4847-8855-4
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations.
Magic, mystery, and love intertwine and invite in this newest take on the “enchanted circus” trope.
Sisters raised by their abusive father, a governor of a colonial backwater in a world vaguely reminiscent of the late 18th century, Scarlett and Donatella each long for something more. Scarlett, olive-skinned, dark of hair and attitude, longs for Caraval, the fabled, magical circus helmed by the possibly evil Master Legend Santos, while blonde, sunny Tella finds comfort in drink and the embraces of various men. A slightly awkward start, with inconsistencies of attitude and setting, rapidly smooths out when they, along with handsome “golden-brown” sailor Julian, flee to Caraval on the eve of Scarlett’s arranged marriage. Tella disappears, and Scarlett must navigate a nighttime world of magic to find her. Caraval delights the senses: beautiful and scary, described in luscious prose, this is a show readers will wish they could enter. Dresses can be purchased for secrets or days of life; clocks can become doors; bridges move: this is an inventive and original circus, laced with an edge of horror. A double love story, one sensual romance and the other sisterly loyalty, anchors the plot, but the real star here is Caraval and its secrets.
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations. (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-09525-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fast-paced dip into the possibility of a world without human emotions.
A teenage girl refuses a medical procedure to remove her heart and her emotions.
June lives in a future in which a reclusive Scientist has pioneered a procedure to remove hearts, thus eliminating all “sadness, anxiety, and anger.” The downside is that it numbs pleasurable feelings, too. Most people around June have had the procedure done; for young people, in part because doing so helps them become more focused and successful. Before long, June is the only one among her peers who still has her heart. When her parents decide it’s time for her to have the procedure so she can become more focused in school, June hatches a plan to pretend to go through with it. She also investigates a way to restore her beloved sister’s heart, joining forces with Max, a classmate who’s also researching the Scientist because he has started to feel again despite having had his heart removed. The pair’s journey is somewhat rushed and improbable, as is the resolution they achieve. However, the story’s message feels relevant and relatable to teens, and the artwork effectively sets the scene, with bursts of color popping throughout an otherwise black-and-white landscape, reflecting the monochromatic, heartless reality of June’s world. There are no ethnic or cultural markers in the text; June has paper-white skin and dark hair, and Max has dark skin and curly black hair.
A fast-paced dip into the possibility of a world without human emotions. (Graphic speculative fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: June 13, 2023
ISBN: 9780063116214
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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