Marr fans will be happy to learn this is a series opener.
Festive subtitle notwithstanding, traversing the complicated, shallowly rendered world of this exposition-heavy fantasy is a dreary slog, like reading a gaming manual cover to cover.
Years after the Witch Wars exiled witches to the human world, daimons remain in possession of The City. (Daimon attributes include retractable talons, fangs and, under stress, berserker temperament.) Encroaching on the overcrowded, brutal City is a beast-ridden wilderness, a parting gift of the witches, power-hungry, magically gifted humanoids. For City residents outside the ruling caste, career options are limited: assassin, thief, con artist, prostitute or, once a generation, combatant in deadly gladiatorial games. For entertainment, there’s the eponymous Carnival and the Night Market (see career options). As heirs of daimon rulers rarely survive childhood, Mallory, daughter of City ruler Marchosias, has been hidden in the human world, raised by her adoptive witch dad. Kaleb, the daimon sent to kill her, is smitten instead. Drably generic Mallory is ignorant of her heritage, but it’s revealed early to readers, leaching the story of suspense. Characters frequently pause the action to muse on what they and readers already know. Vaguely orgiastic, sadomasochistic sex and violence stand in for genuine emotion. Only the violence, delineated in bloody detail, is graphic.
Marr fans will be happy to learn this is a series opener. (Paranormal romance. 13 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-165928-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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
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