A romping debut that’s perfect for teenage fantasy fans.
In this debut YA fantasy, a teen heroine searches for her missing mother and brother while mastering her newfound magical powers.
Teenager Carolyn McInally’s normal life changed the day that a portal appeared in her kitchen and her mother was pulled through it. Her brother, Eddie, was taken as well, and Carolyn has spent the last two years living alone in her family’s beach house in Scotland, gradually recovering from a strange, almost feral emotional state. Now that she’s fully aware once more, she’s beginning to understand her new life of answering “calls,” which involves jumping through gateways into other realms and killing demons. Carolyn learns that she’s wanted when government agents investigate her home and that someone named Ethan has an interest in her. Soon after, she’s called through a gateway to witness a confrontation between a man and a snakelike demon. The man is Ethan, who works for an organization called the Protectorate; he wants to train Carolyn, a “destroyer,” to help keep peace. But instead of killing the demon, Carolyn begins to like him and pulls him back through the gateway. Once on Earth, the demon changes into a handsome youth named Note who insists on serving Carolyn. Ethan tracks Carolyn down, adamant that she start training and join the Protectorate, but she rejects him, opting to search for her family—and bond with the beautiful Note—on her own terms. White offers an agile, endearing fantasy that fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer will adore. Her description of the call is perfectly realized: “an irresistible melodic pull, as though it was a choral magnet and she a metal filing.” The narrative’s strongest suit is its playfully steamy romance between destroyer and demon: “She held his wrists above his head...[and] nipped the tip of his nose with her teeth.” The tale’s opening, though, feels choppy, with its location only hinted at and Carolyn’s many powers appearing with little warning. But once the novel introduces its major characters, the plot lifts off with a succession of nasty revelations. The conclusion will answers some readers’ questions as well as give them a strong urge for a sequel.
A romping debut that’s perfect for teenage fantasy fans.Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2014
ISBN: 978-0993081736
Page Count: 298
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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