This conclusion to an exciting dystopia morphs from shoot’em-up into spy thriller as the titular rebels try to bring down the corporate tyranny established in their African territory.
Called back to the city where they first landed in Africa, Jaym, Reya and D’Shay separate and work to free their colleagues from a notorious prison and to foment an attack on GlobeTran, the corporation that has established an intrusive, ruthless dictatorship. The three friends split up, each working on separate missions. Reya goes undercover as a medic in the prison where two of her friends suffer. D’Shay starts selling contraband inside the local military base in an attempt to swing the soldiers there to New SUN’s side. Jaym, still morose after his fiancee’s death (The Fires of New SUN, 2012), reluctantly teams up with her sister to aid New SUN’s existing undercover network in the city. Kinch’s emphasis here is on intrigue rather than battles. The often stilted expository dialogue is compensated for by a few nifty robot foes, such as flying bugs and metallic dogs. These are in keeping with his futuristic setting, although most of the African town comes across as contemporary. Nevertheless, fans will identify with the three returning heroes and should enjoy the conclusion to the series, even though this story rarely mentions the series’ original premise of repopulating Africa. A satisfying conclusion. (Dystopian adventure. 12-16)
Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7387-3151-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Flux
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A harrowing tale of survival in the Killing Fields.
The childhood of Arn Chorn-Pond has been captured for young readers before, in Michelle Lord and Shino Arihara's picture book, A Song for Cambodia (2008). McCormick, known for issue-oriented realism, offers a fictionalized retelling of Chorn-Pond's youth for older readers. McCormick's version begins when the Khmer Rouge marches into 11-year-old Arn's Cambodian neighborhood and forces everyone into the country. Arn doesn't understand what the Khmer Rouge stands for; he only knows that over the next several years he and the other children shrink away on a handful of rice a day, while the corpses of adults pile ever higher in the mango grove. Arn does what he must to survive—and, wherever possible, to protect a small pocket of children and adults around him. Arn's chilling history pulls no punches, trusting its readers to cope with the reality of children forced to participate in murder, torture, sexual exploitation and genocide. This gut-wrenching tale is marred only by the author's choice to use broken English for both dialogue and description. Chorn-Pond, in real life, has spoken eloquently (and fluently) on the influence he's gained by learning English; this prose diminishes both his struggle and his story.
Though it lacks references or suggestions for further reading, Arn's agonizing story is compelling enough that many readers will seek out the history themselves. (preface, author's note) (Historical fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: May 8, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-173093-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
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Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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