For patient readers seeking a moody, character-driven fantasy.
In an alternate 19th-century England, the banning of alchemology—the use of magic to alter mechanical devices—has driven buyers and alchemologists to the dark market.
When Zaria Mendoza’s father died, she inherited his alchemology notes and a list of illegal commissions. Completing the outstanding orders allows 18-year-old Zaria to scrape by, but manipulating magic comes at a steep cost to her health. Desperate to be rid of her father’s debts and escape London’s slums with her best friend, Jules Zhao, Zaria accepts an offer from Kane Durante, a young man tasked with stealing a necklace from the Great Exhibition of 1851. Failure isn’t an option for Kane, the adopted son of Alexander Ward, who rules the city’s underbelly. Kane has grimly accepted his fate as Ward’s successor, but he jumps at the chance to free Fletcher Collins, his only friend, from Ward’s control, something Ward promises in exchange for the necklace. Much of the book is spent exploring Zaria’s and Kane’s motives through secret-laden third-person chapters that reveal the pair’s feelings of unworthiness in relation to their friends. The story lightly addresses themes of economic inequality and British imperialism as it inches its way toward a heist that unfolds in a flurry of nail-biting twists and turns. The cast is ethnically diverse: Zaria had a Spanish father and English mother, Kane’s parents were Italian, Jules is British Chinese, and Fletcher is Irish.
For patient readers seeking a moody, character-driven fantasy. (Historical fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780316575485
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in.
Black is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy.
Jude—broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness—has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others. Fierce and observant Jude is utterly unaware of the currents that swirl around her. She fights, plots, even murders enemies, but she must also navigate her relationship with her complex family (human, Faerie, and mixed). This is a heady blend of Faerie lore, high fantasy, and high school drama, dripping with description that brings the dangerous but tempting world of Faerie to life.
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-31027-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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