Watery fun right up to the cliffhanger for readers willing to go with the flow.
After the aquatic Rusalka’s initial invasion in Undertow (2015), Alpha-human hybrid Lyric is a wanted terrorist looking for her family.
Sometimes-enemy, sometimes-ally Doyle has revealed that the secret facility experimenting on captive Alphas and their families is in Texas. Lyric evades both a national manhunt (she’s been publically declared the terrorist behind the attack on Coney Island) and roadblocks (designed to stifle the flow of refugee Coasters, those from the East Coast running for safety) with the help of human best friend Bex and Alpha warrior Arcade. Arcade trains Lyric for war, while Bex worries that Lyric’s enjoying violence far too much. Complicating everything is the fact that Arcade is the fiancee of Lyric’s love interest. The girls almost succeed in getting to the facility before the ruthless government contractors running it find them. (Since the operation is too dirty for the military, and corporations are so good at avoiding responsibility for egregious atrocities, torture has been privatized.) The sequence that follows is marked by a variety of betrayals and leads to a plan in which half-Alpha children like Lyric are sent to fight the Rusalka. Some plot elements may fail to hold water under close scrutiny, but frequent action scenes do much to distract readers. The characters’ self-awareness and the importance given to friendships keep the romantic plots out of cliché territory.
Watery fun right up to the cliffhanger for readers willing to go with the flow. (Fantasy. 13 & up)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-544-34844-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Highly imaginative and powerfully affecting.
Folklore, fantasy, and horror are interwoven in this story of a 17-year-old’s journey to save her brother set in 1836 Wisconsin.
The story unfolds as Catalina’s father dies and her brother, Jose Luis, is stolen by the Man of Sap, a monstrosity of bark and leaves. Pa ranted about the terror of the Man of Sap’s deadly apples before he succumbed to them, but when the monster disappears with Jose Luis, Catalina’s world falls apart. Taking a satchel of supplies, Mamá’s beloved book of poetry by Sor Juana de la Cruz—a treasure from her Mexican homeland—and a knife that belonged to her white Pa, Catalina sets off to find her brother and destroy the Man of Sap. Along the way, she finds friendship, terrifying creatures, whispers of magic, and the key to believing that love is not always lost. Surrounded by poetry, both that of de la Cruz and her own personal writing that she cannot finish, Catalina finds words are a redemptive force. Readers are thrown into an exploration of the heartbreak and loneliness following death and loss, and each character, whether human or otherwise, brings introspection and courage to the tale. Mesmerizingly told through the eyes of both Catalina and the monster, the book invites readers to travel with characters who are reckoning with greed, fear, and love as they consider what makes a monster—and whether monsters can be redeemed.
Highly imaginative and powerfully affecting. (author’s note) (Speculative fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781682636473
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Peachtree Teen
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
A deliciously dark coming-of-age fairy tale brimming with magic, monsters, and hope.
A lowly gardener’s daughter enters the cursed Wildwood to save her kingdom.
Cerys, the royal gardener’s daughter, always believed she would stay in Village-in-the-Valley, inheriting the care of the castle’s flowers from her father. With only Princess Anwen, her father, and a mischievous fox for friendship, Cerys has accepted her quiet life, which includes being gossiped about by others for the magic in her blood that, when spilled, causes greenery to grow exponentially. As Cerys mourns missing loved ones, Anwen’s upcoming coronation looms; as ruler, her friend will wear the crown of Aloriya, whose magic keeps the evil of the Wilds at bay. When the coronation is disrupted by the woodcurse, Cerys and the fox rush into the Wildwood, searching for the possibly mythical city of Voryn in hopes of saving the kingdom. Beautifully dark and descriptive prose creates a grim fairy-tale atmosphere that blends with horrific descriptions of bone-eaters, twisted magic, and the ominous adventure through the Wilds. The voice of Cerys, whose lack of self-confidence makes her a convincingly unwilling hero, contrasts with the talking fox’s witty narration. The romance is relatively low-key, and the developing trust and friendship between characters shines. Some aspects may feel familiar to fans of this genre, but the writing and pacing will sweep readers along. Main characters are White; queerness is accepted without comment in this world.
A deliciously dark coming-of-age fairy tale brimming with magic, monsters, and hope. (Fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-284736-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
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