A Category 5 drama that’s not without flaws but that has plenty of heart.
Haunted by the ghost of his dead older sister, Eli decides to defy the emergency evacuation orders and travel out to the old lighthouse to finally put his sister’s spirit to rest—even if it kills him.
But the arrival of the incredibly angry, green-haired Max on Shackles Island changes everything. She has her own spirits to lay to rest and, like Eli, her own secrets to keep. The standoff between the two white teens is interrupted by the arrival of the violent and superstitious Odenkirks, a white family whose brand of backwoods Christianity has its own twisted justice. When they steal something of value to Max, the two decide to travel deep into the swamps to retrieve it. The only problem is that a hurricane is quickly approaching. Trapped on an island with no way off, they must decide whether to risk their lives for the very people determined to kill them. Investigating the many twisting roads that grief can take, this story set deep in the Louisiana bayou is both thoughtful and provocative. The rising water and the Odenkirks’ insanity make for a high-pitched tension that becomes unbearable at times, however. While the grief both Eli and Max feel is real and palpable, the depiction of the Odenkirk family is pure crazy, cheapening the effect.
A Category 5 drama that’s not without flaws but that has plenty of heart. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: June 27, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-85381-1
Page Count: -
Publisher: Levine/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
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 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
A smart, timely outing.
Two teens connect through a mysterious podcast in this sophomore effort by British author Oseman (Solitaire, 2015).
Frances Janvier is a 17-year-old British-Ethiopian head girl who is so driven to get into Cambridge that she mostly forgoes friendships for schoolwork. Her only self-indulgence is listening to and creating fan art for the podcast Universe City, “a…show about a suit-wearing student detective looking for a way to escape a sci-fi, monster-infested university.” Aled Last is a quiet white boy who identifies as “partly asexual.” When Frances discovers that Aled is the secret creator of Universe City, the two embark on a passionate, platonic relationship based on their joint love of pop culture. Their bond is complicated by Aled’s controlling mother and by Frances’ previous crush on Aled’s twin sister, Carys, who ran away last year and disappeared. When Aled’s identity is accidently leaked to the Universe City fandom, he severs his relationship with Frances, leaving her questioning her Cambridge goals and determined to win back his affection, no matter what the cost. Frances’ narration is keenly intelligent; she takes mordant pleasure in using an Indian friend’s ID to get into a club despite the fact they look nothing alike: “Gotta love white people.” Though the social-media–suffused plot occasionally lags, the main characters’ realistic relationship accurately depicts current issues of gender, race, and class.
A smart, timely outing. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: March 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-233571-5
Page Count: 496
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
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