Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. And dragons. And the end of the world.
No one is immune to sacrifice and revenge, and sometimes even a vegetarian dragon can have a taste for blood.
In the third and final book of the Scorched trilogy, 16-year-old Trinity Foxx and her back-from-the-future beau, Connor, rescue Emmy the dragon from a government lab. Emmy, the brunt of aggressive experimentation, is now an unrecognizable husk of the majestic creature she used to be. What’s more, the telepathic connection between Emmy and Trinity has been severed. While Trinity struggles to reconnect with Emmy and restore the dragon’s dignity and vitality, Emmy’s secret is unearthed: she has two hatchlings. Are the adorable duo two tools to convince the world through social media campaigns that dragons should be admired and preserved? Or are they two ticking time bombs waiting to ignite an apocalypse known as The Scorch? In the multiple-narrator, nonlinear narrative, there is a heap of “if only I had done things differently” retrospection—a natural reaction when one glorious catastrophe after another (death, destruction, public outcries against dragons) occurs. But the fighting, biting, and fire breathing are less about violence and more about avenging wrongs and simply surviving. This final installment is about damage done despite Trinity’s efforts to prevent The Scorch, pronouncing that when you’ve been betrayed and broken, civility is off the table.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. And dragons. And the end of the world. (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4022-8464-9
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning.
Two teens train to be society-sanctioned killers in an otherwise immortal world.
On post-mortal Earth, humans live long (if not particularly passionate) lives without fear of disease, aging, or accidents. Operating independently of the governing AI (called the Thunderhead since it evolved from the cloud), scythes rely on 10 commandments, quotas, and their own moral codes to glean the population. After challenging Hon. Scythe Faraday, 16-year-olds Rowan Damisch and Citra Terranova reluctantly become his apprentices. Subjected to killcraft training, exposed to numerous executions, and discouraged from becoming allies or lovers, the two find themselves engaged in a fatal competition but equally determined to fight corruption and cruelty. The vivid and often violent action unfolds slowly, anchored in complex worldbuilding and propelled by political machinations and existential musings. Scythes’ journal entries accompany Rowan’s and Citra’s dual and dueling narratives, revealing both personal struggles and societal problems. The futuristic post–2042 MidMerican world is both dystopia and utopia, free of fear, unexpected death, and blatant racism—multiracial main characters discuss their diverse ethnic percentages rather than purity—but also lacking creativity, emotion, and purpose. Elegant and elegiac, brooding but imbued with gallows humor, Shusterman’s dark tale thrusts realistic, likable teens into a surreal situation and raises deep philosophic questions.
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning. (Science fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4424-7242-6
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
