An enjoyable tale about a tenacious witch for genre fans who aren’t expecting departures.
In this debut YA contemporary fantasy novel, a teenage witch faces her first Trial, but a much bigger challenge looms as covens battle one another and vampires gain power.
Allery Alexia Wick of South Haven, Michigan, is much like other 15-year-olds: she remains rebellious, worries about friendships, and studies hard for a test that will determine her future. But that test isn’t the SAT, because Alexia is a witch. Her family belongs to one of the three coven branches, Alerium; her parents are a High Priestess and Priest. Ambitious and stubborn, Alexia resolves to work hard with her mentor, Darren Smalls, on spellcasting and combat-oriented magic and with her after-school club on prepping for the Trials (South Haven Academy for the Gifted and Talented is a public magnet school, but many students are secretly witches). Starting her sophomore year, Alexia makes two discoveries: her best friend drops her, and Kaleb, a handsome new student, makes her heart pound and face blush. (He’s pale, slightly glowing, and needs to be invited inside; Alexia isn’t immediately suspicious.) She tries to sort out high school angst as she attends class, goes to football games, and plays Truth or Dare, but a far more serious conflict materializes among the covens and with vampires—a clash that worsens when a secret book is stolen, with disastrous results for the teenagers’ Trials. With Alexia’s sister kidnapped, the book still missing, and a war to prevent, the story ends on a to-be-continued cliffhanger. There’s much that’s competent and well-drawn in Almonte’s novel, especially his descriptions of settings and how things work, like magic or the Trial challenges. But mainly, the standard YA playbook applies: angst and defiant emotions, love at first sight, vampire boyfriend, and The Hunger Games–like trials that put teenagers at risk. And some elements aren’t well thought out, like a book that’s crucial to keep secret but whose hiding place is easily discovered by a teenager’s accidental touch. (Clueless adults are also from the playbook.) And the unresolved ending, while intended as a setup for sequels, disappoints readers wanting a conclusion.
An enjoyable tale about a tenacious witch for genre fans who aren’t expecting departures.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: Aug. 18, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
If Elmore Leonard had gotten a securities license, this is the book he might have written.
In this jaunty follow-up to Big Numbers (2007), a scruffy stockbroker returns to tangle with mobsters, women and his own big mouth.
The good news, as the story opens, is that the hero is in the company of a gorgeous naked lady. The bad news is that she’s pointing a shotgun at him. It’s a typical predicament for Austin Carr, a semi-shady New Jersey financial professional temporarily in charge of Shore Securities while his boss is on vacation. But market fluctuations are the least of Carr’s worries. He’s being extorted into opening a money-laundering account for local crime boss Bluefish; an auditor who was investigating his company has turned up murdered; a fetching state police captain figures he’s the key to her organized-crime probe; and his boss’s mother has been picked up for fixing her church bingo game. Carr is continually getting into trouble over his weakness for breasts, his penchant for self-incriminating statements and his vestigial moral sensibility, which, like an appendix, makes itself felt at inconvenient times. On the plus side, he’s got his noble Mexican buddy Luis, a boyish grin for placating angry females, an occasional glimmer of perceptiveness and a stock salesman’s gift for closing the deal, even with people who are preparing to throw his weighted body into the ocean. The way to read this book is to let the hectic, Byzantine, dubiously motivated plot just roll over you without wondering much about who’s doing what to whom, or why. That way you can relax and enjoy Getze’s punchy dialogue and colorful characters–Bluefish’s henchman Max is an especially pungent creation–and his hilarious hangdog protagonist’s dissolute charm.
If Elmore Leonard had gotten a securities license, this is the book he might have written.Pub Date: March 1, 2008
ISBN: 1-59133-238-9
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A portrait of the realistic bravado of teens struggling to find their place in the world.
This coming-of-age story, set in present-day Florida, may leave adult readers with a sad view of today’s teens but engage the younger crowd.
Robby Meyers is the youngest of his clan, and has always been the weakest as well, due to his premature birth. Now, at the beginning of high school, he’s experiencing puberty and is possibly more vulnerable than ever. His father is Robby’s cheerleader–he encourages him to keep up with his healthy, athletic older brothers, and Robby does his best, despite his mother’s concerns about his easily-injured body. When their father is killed in a motorcycle accident, the entire Meyers family’s world turns upside-down. When they later move to a new city, Robby experiences the pain of leaving his friends, teasing and other difficulties with new classmates, in addition to unsympathetic coaches. Still, he makes several new friends who’ll have a large impact on his life. Seemingly largely unsupervised by his mother or other adults, Robby partakes in some activities that demonstrate the questionable judgment that might be expected of a teen in turmoil, including smoking and drinking as well as obnoxious behavior to adults, including teachers. His friend Danny has coarse manners, a shockingly unsanitary home and a bad relationship with his uncle, but Robby doesn’t realize how dangerous the situation is until the climax of the story, in which Robby goes with him to a planned meeting in the dark of night. Readers learn from the epilogue whether Robby survives the ordeal, but the story ends abruptly and there is no demonstration that the other characters have learned important lessons. Appropriate for young readers who don’t mind rough language, Robby Fights the World is engaging and demonstrates making good decisions without moralizing, though it’s possible that as many bad lessons as good are included. Still, the book will likely feel authentic to teen readers.
A portrait of the realistic bravado of teens struggling to find their place in the world.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4392-5913-9
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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