A good ghost story that drowns in the lake of superficial inclusion.
A new girl threatens small-town life when she finds that recent deaths possibly connect to the supernatural underworld.
With her mother’s new boyfriend moving in, rising high school junior Clara Morris decides to spend the summer with her father at Redmarch Lake. When Neil, a local teen, dies, Clara enlists Ash, Neil’s ex-girlfriend, and semi-local boy, Hector, to investigate. Beneath the surface of town superstition and unexplained occurrences they uncover otherworldly, shadowy forces at play. Though plot and protagonist provide for an engaging story linked to a mirrored, paranormal realm, attempts at including diversity become problematic. The purely physical descriptions of Clara and her deceased twin, Zoe, ultimately emphasize the white default by assuming rather than naming race. Additionally, Indigenous peoples and their cultures feel treated as set pieces. A single Indigenous character, Deputy Chief Elaine Cross River, is described generically as a “tough-looking Native American woman,” with no mention of her nation. References to specific Native nations and their histories seem like devices to root this work of fiction in reality rather than adding meaningful context. At the same time, significant objects and drawings, though implied to be Native, are framed as being unlike “any other earthly culture,” feeding into mystical Indian tropes, and the implications that this haunted place results from or relates to some Native influence reflect many stereotypes.
A good ghost story that drowns in the lake of superficial inclusion. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5107-4516-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
Truly fantastic.
This dark fantasy duology opener has a magic school, a death, and five students who find themselves stranded in the wilderness.
Ren Monroe is a promising student wizard at Balmerick, a private school in the city of Kathor. Along with her best friend, Timmons, Ren is one of the few welfare students attending on a scholarship, and despite being one of the most accomplished people at the school, finding a placement in one of the top houses is proving difficult and is a hurdle in the way of the secret mission Ren has set out to accomplish. When a portal spell goes awry and Ren, Timmons, and four other students from different walks of life are thrown together into the Dires, an uncharted land where the last dragons lived, one of them ends up dead and the rest need to learn to work together to make their way back home before they succumb to the harsh environment or the terrifying revenant following them. This may well be the chance Ren was looking for to prove her worth. Placing elements of a locked-room mystery and an original magic system within the familiar trappings of a school for magic, this is a no-holds-barred tale of revenge, atonement, and the pursuit of justice set in a world diverse in skin color and social classes. Ren is a protagonist for the ages: equal parts smart, calculating, and ruthless, forming a lethal package as an avenging angel.
Truly fantastic. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-66591-868-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression.
After surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself.
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself; her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out; her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply; and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her—who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves—Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way "girls who write their pain on their bodies" scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together.
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93471-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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