Uneven prose and illogical events abound in what’s clearly not the foretold savior of epic forbidden-love trilogies
A millennia-old global conspiracy comes to a climax with all the overwrought personal drama this trilogy has promised.
Avery, once an ordinary, violet-eyed American white girl, now is identified as a member of the world-ruling cabal, the Circle of Twelve. Since the time of Alexander the Great, the Circle’s families have secretly controlled the world’s governments, corporations, and media—but they still anticipate the prophecy of the girl with violet eyes and the One. Now Avery knows that she and white, blond, Russian Stellan (her one-time kidnapper, one-time smoocher) are the two destined to change everything. Avery’s blood, when mixed with Stellan’s, produces one of the deadliest biological weapons the world has ever known. Her recently rediscovered Circle family commits gleeful mass murder with Avery’s stolen blood in a quest for power. The series’ trademark sudden-yet-inevitable betrayals cause dramatic uproar but have minimal effect on the plot. Given the deadly risk if their blood is mixed, Avery and Stellan’s romantic choices (petting each other’s freshly inked matching tattoos; insisting on dashing off together into an obvious trap; bandaging each other’s blood-soaked wounds when other potential medics are available) serve only to diminish the importance of impending doom.
Uneven prose and illogical events abound in what’s clearly not the foretold savior of epic forbidden-love trilogies . (Paranormal thriller. 12-16)Pub Date: July 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-16652-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An eerie thriller reminiscent of summer horror movies that will keep readers on edge.
Two teens with a dark secret return to their old summer camp.
Childhood friends Esme and Kayla can’t wait to return to Camp Pine Lake as counselors-in-training, ready to try everything they couldn’t do when they were younger: find cute boys, stay up late, and sneak out after hours. Even Andy, their straight-laced supervisor, can’t dampen their excitement, especially after they meet the crushworthy Olly and Jake. An intuitive 17-year-old, Esme is ready to jump in and teach her cute little campers. But when a threatening message appears, Esme and Kayla realize the secret they’ve kept hidden for nearly a decade is no longer safe. Paranoia and fear soon cause Esme and Kayla to revisit their ominous secret and realize that nobody in the camp can be trusted. The slow buildup of suspense and the use of classic horror elements contrast with lighthearted camp activities, bonding with new friends, and budding romance. Similarly, Esme’s first-person point of view allows for increased tension and action as well as offering insight into her emotional and mental well-being. Discussions of adulthood, trauma, and recovery are subtle and realistic, but acts of sexism and machismo aren’t fully analyzed. While the strong buildup of action comes late, it leads to a shockingly satisfying finale. Major characters are White.
An eerie thriller reminiscent of summer horror movies that will keep readers on edge. (Thriller. 12-16)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12497-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
Though it lacks references or suggestions for further reading, Arn's agonizing story is compelling enough that many readers...
A harrowing tale of survival in the Killing Fields.
The childhood of Arn Chorn-Pond has been captured for young readers before, in Michelle Lord and Shino Arihara's picture book, A Song for Cambodia (2008). McCormick, known for issue-oriented realism, offers a fictionalized retelling of Chorn-Pond's youth for older readers. McCormick's version begins when the Khmer Rouge marches into 11-year-old Arn's Cambodian neighborhood and forces everyone into the country. Arn doesn't understand what the Khmer Rouge stands for; he only knows that over the next several years he and the other children shrink away on a handful of rice a day, while the corpses of adults pile ever higher in the mango grove. Arn does what he must to survive—and, wherever possible, to protect a small pocket of children and adults around him. Arn's chilling history pulls no punches, trusting its readers to cope with the reality of children forced to participate in murder, torture, sexual exploitation and genocide. This gut-wrenching tale is marred only by the author's choice to use broken English for both dialogue and description. Chorn-Pond, in real life, has spoken eloquently (and fluently) on the influence he's gained by learning English; this prose diminishes both his struggle and his story.
Though it lacks references or suggestions for further reading, Arn's agonizing story is compelling enough that many readers will seek out the history themselves. (preface, author's note) (Historical fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: May 8, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-173093-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
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