A promising start to a planned paranormal trilogy.
In Keramati’s debut YA fantasy, a Canadian neuroscience student runs into an ex-boyfriend and subsequently finds herself in danger in an adventure that stretches across multiple dimensions.
Neve Knightly was devastated when her significant other, Dylan Sterling, disappeared three years ago. Now that he’s resurfaced, she’s angry and confused, especially because he’s vague about where he’s been and why. As bad luck would have it, Romer Anthony, the gorgeous, mysterious carpenter who’s helping her out with her first art exhibition, is also Dylan’s former best friend. Then her own best friend, Elliot Wilder, commits suicide by drowning after Neve has a dream about that same manner of death. She’s had prophetic dreams before, but she’s tried to ignore them since childhood; her parents once sent her to a psychiatrist after she claimed she could predict the future. Dylan’s own shrink, Alex Galen, however, doesn’t think she’s crazy at all. In fact, he tells her that “dreams are windows to our alternate realities.” He goes on to say that when Neve is sleeping, she can access her other selves, or “Proxies,” throughout the multiverse, a process he calls “Resonance.” He believes that Resonance is responsible for moments of déjà vu, telekinesis, ghosts, and other strange phenomena; for example, Neve broke the loveseat in his office when all her Proxies temporarily occupied the same space. He calls his life’s work “The Fray Theory,” and he quickly entrusts Neve with his notes about it before shadowy antagonists show up at his door. Keramati makes it clear that Neve is embroiled in something dark and dangerous, but she leaves some juicy questions unanswered in this volume. Although the love triangle she sets up among Neve, Dylan, and Romer is standard fare for YA, it still feels organic—Neve’s attraction to both men makes sense, and her own personality never gets lost in her relationships with them. Her prose is rich in figurative language, and her similes are often pitch-perfect, as when Dylan thinks of Neve as being “like a tuxedo kitten curled up in every corner of his heart.” On the other hand, others don’t quite land, as when the author describes Neve’s classmates leaving a school building as being “Like a broken line of ants leaving a funeral.”
A promising start to a planned paranormal trilogy.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Finch Hill
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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