This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes
A gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.
Fifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting—plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers—escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel.
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes . (Science fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25675-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK TO SCREEN
The setup for a sequel doesn't entice
A Mesopotamian girl seeks love in the 18th century B.C.
In a tribe of desert nomads whose names come primarily from the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon, a 15-year-old hilariously named Jayden prepares for an unwanted betrothal. It's the time of Hammurabi, and Jayden, "a daughter of Abraham," is to wed loathsome Horeb, heir to the throne of her tribe. Horeb, selfish and lazy, abandons Jayden in her deepest tragedy, but mysterious Kadesh appears out of the desert to aid her. Even Jayden's older sister, Leila, sees which way the wind is blowing, telling Jayden, "Horeb might be your future husband, but Kadesh is the handsome stranger who can't take his eyes off you." Meanwhile, Leila is thinking about abandoning the ways of their fathers for the comforts of the Temple of Ashtoreth, giving Jayden plenty of opportunity to moralize at her sister about the wickedness of priestess practices (though Jayden herself is not quite clear what's so evil about it). When everything goes wrong (mostly because of Horeb's cackling villainy, invisible to all but Jayden), it's the people Jayden judges and finds wanting who rescue her—not that their kindness changes her opinions. Readers looking for blandly re-created historical settings that are less anachronistic than this would be better served by Esther Friesner's Princesses of Myth series.
The setup for a sequel doesn't entice . (Historical fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-06-219497-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2014
Adequate heroic fantasy only for those who must have every girl-with-a-sword
A girl fighter fights evil in a midseries time filler.
Disfigured by scars and outed as a girl, superb sword fighter Alexa is King Damian's most valued guard. Though Damian relies on her completely as a soldier and adviser, the awkwardness between the pair encroaches on their every interaction. Alexa has told Damian she doesn't love him, convinced that a relationship would destroy her beloved king (she feels she’d be bad for him, for no apparent reason beyond her disfiguring scars). Every time she sees him, Alexa is struck with such blinding physical pain—in her chest, stomach, gut and skull—that readers might wonder if she should visit a doctor. A visit to the kingdom by villainous, alabaster-skinned desert people leaves the kingdom in danger from a wicked seductress and her brother, a malicious goon who tortures his own henchmen for kicks and giggles. Though the dastardly fiends don't appear to be dark sorcerers, they certainly have mysterious powers almost impossible to resist. Still, no dark magic or potential war with the Blevonese can distract Alexa from her Very Important Love Triangle with two bland blank slates.
Adequate heroic fantasy only for those who must have every girl-with-a-sword . (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-64474-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2014
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