A compellingly dark and wild ride.
In Stewart’s YA SF novel, a teenager and her father spend their days fighting an alien invasion.
Seventeen‑year‑old Nike leads a strange and dangerous life in Toronto. She is a “source,” a living conduit of power that can be weaponized against the alien invasion of raitgurs, creatures whom most people, including Nike herself, can’t see. These raitgurs infect humans, leaving their victims trapped in a catatonic depressive state. Nike’s father, Trayling, is a “burner,” one of the few who can see and fight the raitgurs by drawing energy from a source like Nike whenever she burns herself. The process has never been painless, but lately the damage has become permanent—the burns are eating away at Nike’s body. Resentful of the role she’s forced to play and the suffering she endures, Nike longs desperately for a different life. Trayling works as a “busker,” earning money for every raitgur he kills while simultaneously caring for his wife and other daughter, both of whom are infected and kept in comas within a long‑term care facility. The city has been divided into districts to minimize conflict among burners vying for territory and payouts. Trayling’s suspicions are aroused when he notices a disturbing pattern: Another district, run by a group known as the Italians, is suddenly responsible for killing far more raitgurs than anywhere else. As his already‑strained relationship with Nike begins to fracture, he launches an investigation that uncovers a web of betrayals involving multiple parties. What he discovers threatens to upend everything they thought they knew about the invasion, the burners, and the people they trust. Plunging into the action from the very beginning (“Her father’s hand glowed. Then he sucked up more power until her finger blazed like a road flare and his hand filled with a fireball”), the story quickly immerses readers in Nike’s and Trayling’s gritty, perilous world. The unique and fully realized premise delivers both a high‑stakes plot and emotional depth. With its myriad twists and escalating revelations, the narrative becomes a breathless, gripping journey that will keep readers on the edges of their seats.
A compellingly dark and wild ride.Pub Date: Nov. 25, 2025
ISBN: 9781990086939
Page Count: 246
Publisher: Renaissance
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations.
Magic, mystery, and love intertwine and invite in this newest take on the “enchanted circus” trope.
Sisters raised by their abusive father, a governor of a colonial backwater in a world vaguely reminiscent of the late 18th century, Scarlett and Donatella each long for something more. Scarlett, olive-skinned, dark of hair and attitude, longs for Caraval, the fabled, magical circus helmed by the possibly evil Master Legend Santos, while blonde, sunny Tella finds comfort in drink and the embraces of various men. A slightly awkward start, with inconsistencies of attitude and setting, rapidly smooths out when they, along with handsome “golden-brown” sailor Julian, flee to Caraval on the eve of Scarlett’s arranged marriage. Tella disappears, and Scarlett must navigate a nighttime world of magic to find her. Caraval delights the senses: beautiful and scary, described in luscious prose, this is a show readers will wish they could enter. Dresses can be purchased for secrets or days of life; clocks can become doors; bridges move: this is an inventive and original circus, laced with an edge of horror. A double love story, one sensual romance and the other sisterly loyalty, anchors the plot, but the real star here is Caraval and its secrets.
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations. (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-09525-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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