A welcome return to the Just Ella universe.
Haddix continues the series that began with the alternate “Cinderella” Just Ella (1999) with a story about a different princess.
Princess Desmia, raised as the true princess of Suala, now rules with 12 other princesses, each raised similarly and separately. When a fire destroys their palace, apparently killing most of the other princesses, Desmia finds herself in the clutches of the evil Madame Bisset. Escaping, she finds her true sister, Janelia, along with a troupe of ragged boys who look to Janelia as their Mam. Desmia decides she must somehow travel to neighboring Fridesia to find friends Ella and Jeb, so with Janelia and two boys, Herk and Tog, she sets out surreptitiously across an open landscape that terrifies the sheltered young woman. Desmia strives to conquer her fears and to quell the princess training that constantly tells her she’s superior, gradually coming to see her new friends as equals. Finally arriving at the Fridesian palace, she meets the terminally handsome but reputedly stupid Prince Charming, whom she must convince of the truth of her tale. Haddix keeps the plot suspenseful even as she delves into Desmia’s new insights, providing plenty of entertainment along with some advice for life. Readers who enjoyed the earlier books will find plenty to like here, as the book even adds a hint of romance for Desmia.
A welcome return to the Just Ella universe. (Fantasy. 12-18)Pub Date: April 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4424-4281-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Outrageous and uproariously funny.
A girl plots a takedown of the toxic Speech and Debate team that rules her school.
When Sydney starts at Eaganville School for the Arts, she immediately runs afoul of the powerful Speech and Debate kids due to her mouthy nature. She’s adopted by other misfits with Speech grudges—athletic Lakshmi; former Speech star Elijah; and gay theater aficionado Thomas. Sydney decides to avenge her friends by joining Speech and Debate and destroying it from the inside. To do this, she must become good enough to stay on the varsity team all the way to Nationals. The dissent Sydney and friends sow within the team involves inflaming rivalries, toying with hormones, and various other dirty tricks—luckily, the varsity team members are so odious that their punishments remain hilarious. The true villain is the win-at-all-costs abusive coach. Sydney also copes with her family’s new normal—incarcerated father, dramatically reduced socio-economic status, and her mother’s boyfriend, a meathead lunk played for laughs (until he blossoms into a surprisingly supportive and caring character). Humor infuses everything—Sydney’s narration, gleeful profanity, irreverence, and elaborate scheme sequences. The members of the highly diverse cast have distinctive voices and personalities (Sydney and Elijah are white, Lakshmi is Indian, and Thomas is black). The infiltrate-and-destroy storyline combined with immersion in a subculture that is taken with deadly hilarious seriousness make this read like the demented love child of Mean Girls and Pitch Perfect.
Outrageous and uproariously funny. (Fiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-368-01007-8
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion/LBYR
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Overwhelming and breathless.
All the world—including a childhood home—is a stage!
Finn, a White 17-year-old, has a lot going on in his life: His blended family—consisting of his lesbian mothers, White Lula and Black Nomi, and his gay biracial college-age brothers, Andre and Kendrick, who are identical twins—is putting on an “interactive play meets murder mystery meets escape room” in their Victorian home, the Jorgensen House. The house is owned by the Beauregard Theatre and was a pet project of the former artistic director, who supported Lula’s plan to use the basement for set and prop storage while turning the upper floors into rental space for weddings and events. With the previous director’s passing, the new person is looking to trim the budget and sell the home. If that’s not enough, Finn is also trying to woo drama student Alexa, deal with complicated feelings about former friend Jade, and score a place in his high school’s acting lab, which he hopes will help him with his college goals. It’s a lot—and there’s more! A leaky roof, a cancer scare, a hidden treasure, and various actors’ individual issues all make their ways into a complicated plot that also addresses racism, sexuality, and privilege. The novel may appeal to those who enjoy the stress and chaos of an opening night, but for others it could feel like an overstuffed reading experience that doesn’t offer enough space to reflect on all the content.
Overwhelming and breathless. (sources) (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-4197-5456-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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