A fun and adventurous bit of fantasy romance.
Two impoverished sisters aspire to be chosen to become a royal bride.
Nor and her identical twin sister, Zadie, dive for pearls along with other struggling villagers in Varenia, a tiny, oppressed kingdom of wooden homes built on stilts in the sea. Tradition holds that when the crown prince of the kingdom of Ilaria is ready for marriage, the elders select the loveliest girl in Varenia for him to marry. Sweet-tempered Zadie is her family’s expected choice; Nor isn’t really a contender, having sustained an injury that left a scar on her cheek. In some ways, this liberates her: She is outspoken and defiant, questions society’s preoccupation with beauty, and dreams of one day setting foot on dry land. When Zadie reveals that she is in love with the governor’s son, their neighbor, the sisters quickly realize that a simple accident can produce the necessary flaw to keep her home and send Nor in her stead. Debut author Rutherford’s saga begins with the promise of originality, with intriguing kingdoms and worthy heroines. However, the characters can feel two-dimensional, particularly the gallantly handsome love interest and cold, cruel villain. Despite some predictability, it’s a fun read, as the tempo canters along. In tropical Varenia, citizens have a wide range of hair and skin colors and value them all as beautiful.
A fun and adventurous bit of fantasy romance. (Fantasy. 12-15)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-335-09044-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Review Posted Online: June 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
Characters to love, quips to snort at, insights to ponder: typical Spinelli.
For two teenagers, a small town’s annual cautionary ritual becomes both a life- and a death-changing experience.
On the second Wednesday in June, every eighth grader in Amber Springs, Pennsylvania, gets a black shirt, the name and picture of a teen killed the previous year through reckless behavior—and the silent treatment from everyone in town. Like many of his classmates, shy, self-conscious Robbie “Worm” Tarnauer has been looking forward to Dead Wed as a day for cutting loose rather than sober reflection…until he finds himself talking to a strange girl or, as she would have it, “spectral maiden,” only he can see or touch. Becca Finch is as surprised and confused as Worm, only remembering losing control of her car on an icy slope that past Christmas Eve. But being (or having been, anyway) a more outgoing sort, she sees their encounter as a sign that she’s got a mission. What follows, in a long conversational ramble through town and beyond, is a day at once ordinary yet rich in discovery and self-discovery—not just for Worm, but for Becca too, with a climactic twist that leaves both ready, or readier, for whatever may come next. Spinelli shines at setting a tongue-in-cheek tone for a tale with serious underpinnings, and as in Stargirl (2000), readers will be swept into the relationship that develops between this adolescent odd couple. Characters follow a White default.
Characters to love, quips to snort at, insights to ponder: typical Spinelli. (Fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-30667-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
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