Civilization has been destroyed, but Grace and Hayden have found each other.
Years after a massive war, a formerly thriving metropolis is in rubble, its remaining goods guarded by violent Brutes. Scattered outside the city are villages of survivors who play a constant game of raid or be raided, kill or be killed. None of them have learned to produce much, so they obtain alcohol, fuel, and munitions through raids. On a scavenging trip, Hayden, the leader of the deadly Blackwing camp, saves and ultimately kidnaps the wounded, beautiful Grace, never expecting that that they are going to fall for each other. The plot unfolds in alternating Grace-Hayden perspectives and requires strenuous suspension of disbelief; for example, medical supplies still exist in rather ample supply in the decimated city. Raid scenes are interspersed with make-out sessions between Grace and Hayden and very explicit hand jobs that never lead to actual intercourse. The narrative dabbles with erotic dominance, as when the two physically tussle: “My cheek pushed against the rough bark while his hands gripped my wrists against my lower back…I shivered when his lips tickled against my ear when he spoke, and I hated myself for liking it.” Hayden and Grace both embody a combination of cardboard-cutout stoicism and vulnerability. All characters are white.
Dystopian clichés rife with violence and trite romance. (Dystopian romance. 15-18)Pub Date: March 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4091-8384-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Orion/Trafalgar
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
Categories: TEEN FICTION | TEEN SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | TEEN DYSTOPIAN FICTION
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BOOK REVIEW
Green seamlessly bridges the gap between the present and the existential, and readers will need more than one box of tissues...
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He’s in remission from the osteosarcoma that took one of his legs. She’s fighting the brown fluid in her lungs caused by tumors. Both know that their time is limited.
Sparks fly when Hazel Grace Lancaster spies Augustus “Gus” Waters checking her out across the room in a group-therapy session for teens living with cancer. He’s a gorgeous, confident, intelligent amputee who always loses video games because he tries to save everyone. She’s smart, snarky and 16; she goes to community college and jokingly calls Peter Van Houten, the author of her favorite book, An Imperial Affliction, her only friend besides her parents. He asks her over, and they swap novels. He agrees to read the Van Houten and she agrees to read his—based on his favorite bloodbath-filled video game. The two become connected at the hip, and what follows is a smartly crafted intellectual explosion of a romance. From their trip to Amsterdam to meet the reclusive Van Houten to their hilariously flirty repartee, readers will swoon on nearly every page. Green’s signature style shines: His carefully structured dialogue and razor-sharp characters brim with genuine intellect, humor and desire. He takes on Big Questions that might feel heavy-handed in the words of any other author: What do oblivion and living mean? Then he deftly parries them with humor: “My nostalgia is so extreme that I am capable of missing a swing my butt never actually touched.” Dog-earing of pages will no doubt ensue.
Green seamlessly bridges the gap between the present and the existential, and readers will need more than one box of tissues to make it through Hazel and Gus’ poignant journey. (Fiction. 15 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-525-47881-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2012
Categories: TEEN FICTION | TEEN ROMANCE | TEEN SOCIAL THEMES
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Two teenage girls—Lena and Campbell—come together following a football game night gone wrong.
Campbell, who is white and new to Atlanta, now attends the school where Lena, who is black, is a queen bee. At a game between McPherson High and their rival, a racist slur leads to fights, and shots are fired. The unlikely pair are thrown together as they try to escape the dangers on campus only to find things are even more perilous on the outside; a police blockade forces them to walk through a dangerous neighborhood toward home. En route, a peaceful protest turns into rioting, and the presence of police sets off a clash with protestors with gruesome consequences. The book attempts to tackle racial injustice in America by offering two contrasting viewpoints via narrators of different races. However, it portrays black characters as violent and criminal and the white ones as excusably ignorant and subtly racist, seemingly redeemed by moments when they pause to consider their privileges and biases. Unresolved story arcs, underdeveloped characters, and a jumpy plot that tries to pack too much into too small a space leave the story lacking. This is not a story of friendship but of how trauma can forge a bond—albeit a weak and questionable one—if only for a night.
An unpolished grab bag of incidents that tries to make a point about racial inequality. (Fiction. 15-adult)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4926-7889-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
Categories: TEEN FICTION | TEEN SOCIAL THEMES
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