Atmospheric and provocative but hampered by a cacophony of messages.
An injured firefighter records eerie experiences as he searches for his brother during the London Blitz.
Following an earnest effort to restore sibling bonds sundered by his decision to register as a conscientious objector, Harry Black leaves his enlisted older brother, Ellis, in a pub that takes a direct hit only minutes later from a V-2. Waking up with head injuries, Harry woozily escapes the hospital to undertake the seemingly hopeless task of digging into the wreckage after his brother—describing his frantic efforts in disjointed notebook entries around prescient visions of future wars fought by machines that he illustrates with nightmarish views of hanging bodies and armies of shrouded figures in hazmat suits. Along with lurid details (notably a pocket full of glass eyes that Harry snatches from a warehouse fire which appear throughout as spot art) the authors, brothers themselves, add a mythic overlay by interspersing extended verse (occasionally rhymed) comments by Orpheus as observer and psychopomp and extending Harry’s quest into a dangerous, jumbled underworld that has its own king and pomegranate-eating queen. The attempt to shovel on another layer of significance by trotting in an otherworldly Kindertransport child and positioning her as symbolic of both true peace and a gender complement is ill conceived. Still, unlike his lyre-strumming alter ego, Harry does in the end bring off a rescue…albeit at a cost.
Atmospheric and provocative but hampered by a cacophony of messages. (Historical fantasy. 14-17)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0437-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Walker US/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
Romance fans will be enthralled by the back-and-forth drama, though general readers may grow impatient with the protagonists.
In rural Kentucky, where everyone knows everyone else and grudges run deep, Victoria and Mickey’s romance is doomed before it even begins.
She is from the Whitfield family, well-established players in the horse business. He is a Rhodale, known for their drug ties and violent tempers. Though a deep-seated family feud usually keeps Whitfields and Rhodales in separate worlds, Victoria and Mickey cannot deny their instantaneous connection. Their feelings for each other and about their family situations are revealed through short chapters that alternate perspectives. Most of the plot centers around the hormone-addled Victoria and Mickey as they hem and haw over their relationship, while their families do everything in their power to keep them apart. However, several juicy subplots are interwoven throughout the storyline, including Victoria’s sister Melinda’s battle with addiction, the historical connection between the Whitfield and Rhodale families, and dangerous developments in Mickey’s brother Ethan’s drug business. The narrative suffers from the introduction of some superfluous characters and drags on a bit longer than necessary, but it also sets the stage for further titles, as this is the first in a series.
Romance fans will be enthralled by the back-and-forth drama, though general readers may grow impatient with the protagonists. (Romance. 14-17)Pub Date: April 8, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-59514-709-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2014
An uneven read that ultimately misses its mark.
Even as her own soul hovers in the “middle” space, her body barely clinging to life in a hospital room, 18-year-old Crow’s thoughts are consumed with protecting her sister.
When given the chance to go on a “walkabout”—an opportunity to revisit her life and make things right—Crow learns that there may have been another side to the people and events that defined her. The only catch is that she must return as someone other than herself. It’s an interesting-enough premise, and the first half of the book will likely live up to readers’ expectations. A skillfully crafted and strikingly bleak Minnesota is the perfect backdrop for Crow’s desperate attempts to save her sister from their stepfather’s lascivious eye. Their mother’s unwillingness to acknowledge this potential threat is both maddening and chillingly believable. Unfortunately, the second half of the novel falls disappointingly short. Here, Crow’s gender-bending return to her past as a young man muddies the waters and distracts from the plot, as does a disturbing side story about Crow’s relationship with her friend Basil. Frequent references to Crow’s passion for philosophy are not followed through in the text, and Crow’s obsession with protecting her sister never allows adequate room for Crow to truly discover herself.
An uneven read that ultimately misses its mark. (Fantasy. 14-17)Pub Date: April 10, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-14-241229-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Penguin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2014
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