A YA horror/SF Clownaggedon more direly traumatic in each installment—approach with caution.
Blume continues his YA SF saga in which trans teen Oliver Jariwala and his friends encounter unearthly clowns who aren’t very funny at all.
Oliver Jariwala’s mother, a scientist, vanished during a test of a “molecular transporter.” In her place there appeared Dindet, a unicellular entity whose species generally manifest themselves as types of clowns, including mimes and jesters (in the novel’s planet- and dimension-spanning cosmos, “Clown” is a legitimate life-form category). Dindet masqueraded as a “foreign” visiting student at Oliver’s school, but several classmates have learned the incredible truth. One of them, Douglass, is Oliver’s closest friend and secret crush. Douglass’ scientist father was complicit in Dindet’s capture and apparent death in a heartless lab experiment. Oliver is tormented, manipulated, and sexually degraded by Markus, a cruel senior at his school. Oliver is placed in the hands of psychologists and authorities after lashing out at a taunting Markus in a violent episode. Meanwhile, Douglass and others come to the realization that long-standing disappearances and other creepy stuff in their community signify that Dindet was not the only alien Clown at large. Readers of the previous books in the series already know that the other Clowns, unlike Dindet, are neither playful nor funny. In fact, the author prefaces the text with a long list of “triggering content” found in the story; the YA-skewed material becomes a near-nonstop horror show of young people being victimized by adults and/or taloned, tentacled monstrosities. Oliver’s gender and the ways kids and adults react are addressed now and again (“It didn’t used to be this way. We were all right. Boy’s were boys, girls were girls, men married women and then that stupid president got elected and now all of them think it’s completely fine to flaunt that shit out in public”), though this thread is overshadowed by the increasingly apocalyptic main attraction under this killer-Clown circus tent. A cliffhanger ending hits readers with even more shocking twists.
A YA horror/SF Clownaggedon more direly traumatic in each installment—approach with caution. (YA science fiction)Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2023
ISBN: 9781737946366
Page Count: 282
Publisher: Christen Marie Watson
Review Posted Online: Jan. 30, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
This fresh reworking of a Greek myth will resonate.
An otherworldly Latinx retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth set in the South Bronx.
Pheus visits his father in the Bronx every summer. The Afro-Dominican teen is known for his mesmerizing bachata music, love of history, and smooth way with the ladies. Eury, a young Puerto Rican woman and Hurricane Maria survivor, is staying with her cousin for the summer because of a recent, unspecified traumatic event. Her family doesn’t know that she’s been plagued since childhood by the demonlike Ato. Pheus and Eury bond over music and quickly fall in love. Attacked at a dance club by Sileno, its salacious and satyrlike owner, Eury falls into a coma and is taken to el Inframundo by Ato. Pheus, despite his atheism, follows the advice of his father and a local bruja to journey to find his love in the Underworld. Rivera skillfully captures the sounds and feels of the Bronx—its unique, diverse culture and the creeping gentrification of its neighborhoods. Through an amalgamation of Greek, Roman, and Taíno mythology and religious beliefs, gaslighting, the colonization of Puerto Rico, Afro-Latinidad identity, and female empowerment are woven into the narrative. While the pacing lags in the middle, secondary characters aren’t fully developed, and the couple’s relationship borders on instalove, the rush of a summertime romance feels realistic. Rivera’s complex world is well realized, and the dialogue rings true. All protagonists are Latinx.
This fresh reworking of a Greek myth will resonate. (Fabulism. 14-adult)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0373-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
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