Held captive in an enemy land, a princess ricochets among an assassin, a prince, and a barbaric ruler.
As The Kiss of Deception (2014) ended, Princess Lia entered Venda as a prisoner of Kaden, who’d been sent to assassinate her but instead brought her to Venda’s dictator, the Komizar. Whether locked in her room, sneaking through hidden catacombs, or being paraded outdoors by the Komizar, Lia’s never safe. She knows that her beloved Prince Rafe is imprisoned here too, in disguise, and could be killed anytime; the chance Lia will be killed lessens when the Komizar starts using her as a political symbol, but she’s still in danger. Pearson’s plot flows well despite some flowery prose and overexplanations. Themes of bloodshed, hunger, war, and manipulation simmer through several first-person perspectives, and an event near the end packs a wallop. However, for a story emphasizing vengeance, betrayal, and deception, the reveals are lukewarm, unlike the stunningly satisfying ones in Kristin Cashore’s Graceling Realm series, while Marie Rutkoski’s Winner’s Trilogy makes meatier fodder of mis/trust, power, manipulation, and enormous stakes. There’s little new here: Lia’s critical role becomes as much about destiny as agency, and stereotypical Romany-esque “vagabonds” teach her about her magical gift.
Despite flaws, solid and absorbing high fantasy, with a sudden breathless hook to the next installment. (Fantasy. 14-17)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9924-9
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
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An emotionally engaging closer that fumbles in its final moments.
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Lara Jean prepares for college and a wedding.
Korean-American Lara Jean is finally settled into a nice, complication-free relationship with her white boyfriend, Peter. But things don’t stay simple for long. When college acceptance letters roll in, Peter and Lara Jean discover they’re heading in different directions. As the two discuss the long-distance thing, Lara Jean’s widower father is making a major commitment: marrying the neighbor lady he’s been dating. The whirlwind of a wedding, college visits, prom, and the last few months of senior year provides an excellent backdrop for this final book about Lara Jean. The characters ping from event to event with emotions always at the forefront. Han further develops her cast, pushing them to new maturity and leaving few stones unturned. There’s only one problem here, and it’s what’s always held this series back from true greatness: Peter. Despite Han’s best efforts to flesh out Peter with abandonment issues and a crummy dad, he remains little more than a handsome jock. Frankly, Lara Jean and Peter may have cute teen chemistry, but Han's nuanced characterizations have often helped to subvert typical teen love-story tropes. This knowing subversion is frustratingly absent from the novel's denouement.
An emotionally engaging closer that fumbles in its final moments. (Romance. 14-17)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3048-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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The daughter of a murdered queen plots to take back what is hers.
With her country seized and her mother, the Fire Queen of Astrea, murdered by invaders when she was only 6 years old, Theodosia has been a prisoner for 10 years, stripped of her crown, her people enslaved. Theo (renamed Thora by her captors) is at the mercy of the Kaiser—the fearsome ruler of the Kalovaxians—enduring his malicious whims in order to survive. But when the Kaiser forces Theo to execute her own father, survival is no longer good enough, and she finally takes up the mantle of queen to lead her people’s rise to resistance in a land saturated in elemental magic. Debut author Sebastian has invigorated some well-worn fantasy tropes (a displaced heir, an underground rebellion, and a love triangle that muddies the distinctions between enemies and allies), delivering a narrative that crackles with political intrigue, powerful and debilitating magic, and the violent mechanisms of colonization even as it leaves sequel-primed gaps. Some details—like Theo’s crisis of identity and Hamletian indecision—work well to submerge readers in a turbulent and enthralling plot; others, like racialized descriptions that fall short of actual representation (Atreans are dark-haired and olive-skinned, Kalovaxians are blond and pale-skinned) and the use of magic-induced madness for narrative shock and awe feel lazy and distracting among more nuanced elements.
“Cinderella” but with genocide and rebel plots. (Fantasy. 14-17)Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-6706-8
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
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