Equal parts page-turning adventure and heartwarming tribute to chosen family.
Three years after a deadly virus first swept Australia, the intrepid survivors from Smith’s Wilder Trilogy continue to struggle.
Several months after the events of Wilder Country (2018), Finn, Kas, Ray, and Rowdy are living off the land and their store of supplies in Angowrie, ever vigilant for danger. The setting is idyllic—a young couple in love, enjoying the beauty of land and sea with their loyal dog and protective father figure—but they’ve seen too much to be complacent. The unexpected arrival of JT and Daymu, who have escaped captivity on the No-landers’ farm, brings unwelcome news: Ramage and Tusker, cruel leaders of the Wilders who pursue and persecute refugee Sileys like Kas and Daymu, are not only alive, but in roles of authority in regional government. With the virus mutating and decontamination squads closing in on the quarantined zone, the four youths and Rowdy set off in search of a safe haven, bidding a gut-wrenching farewell to Ray, who doesn’t want to slow them down. Their bid for freedom is tragically short-lived, and their capture takes the hardy band into dark places indeed. All too timely in an age of pandemics and panic, this gripping work has real emotional depth and ultimately rests on a foundation of hope and faith in humanity. Kas is Afghani and Daymu is Karen; most other main characters are white.
Equal parts page-turning adventure and heartwarming tribute to chosen family. (Dystopian. 13-adult)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-925773-58-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Text
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
Truly fantastic.
This dark fantasy duology opener has a magic school, a death, and five students who find themselves stranded in the wilderness.
Ren Monroe is a promising student wizard at Balmerick, a private school in the city of Kathor. Along with her best friend, Timmons, Ren is one of the few welfare students attending on a scholarship, and despite being one of the most accomplished people at the school, finding a placement in one of the top houses is proving difficult and is a hurdle in the way of the secret mission Ren has set out to accomplish. When a portal spell goes awry and Ren, Timmons, and four other students from different walks of life are thrown together into the Dires, an uncharted land where the last dragons lived, one of them ends up dead and the rest need to learn to work together to make their way back home before they succumb to the harsh environment or the terrifying revenant following them. This may well be the chance Ren was looking for to prove her worth. Placing elements of a locked-room mystery and an original magic system within the familiar trappings of a school for magic, this is a no-holds-barred tale of revenge, atonement, and the pursuit of justice set in a world diverse in skin color and social classes. Ren is a protagonist for the ages: equal parts smart, calculating, and ruthless, forming a lethal package as an avenging angel.
Truly fantastic. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-66591-868-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
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