A mixed-bag sequel that misplaces what made its predecessor so special.
Sunshine Griffith develops her paranormal powers under the watchful guidance of her estranged father in this sequel to The Haunting of Sunshine Girl (2015).
Only a few days have gone by since Sunshine met her birth father, Aidan. Sunshine hasn't told her adoptive mother, Kat, yet, and with good reason: Sunshine is a luiseach, a creature that looks human but actually spends its time communing with the dead and warding off evil spirits. Aidan believes Sunshine is a particularly special luiseach, one that can help unite her people under one banner and fight off a mysterious darkness. But first, she must be trained, and to do that, she must leave her adopted home behind. The chills and thrills found in this episode's predecessor have been switched out for mythology and worldbuilding, a different flavor that is frankly a bit of a letdown. The author is at her best when she exploits her premise for scares and bumps in the night, but she hamstrings herself hanging the spooky doings upon a “chosen one” narrative. A superfluous love triangle among Sunshine, her friend Nolan, and sexy new guy Lucio feels like nothing more than padding. Sunshine's back story involving a troubled mother is much more engaging than the romance subplot, as is her developing relationship with the father she believed to have abandoned her.
A mixed-bag sequel that misplaces what made its predecessor so special. (Paranormal suspense. 12-16)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-60286-274-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Weinstein Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This conclusion to an exciting dystopia morphs from shoot’em-up into spy thriller as the titular rebels try to bring down the corporate tyranny established in their African territory.
Called back to the city where they first landed in Africa, Jaym, Reya and D’Shay separate and work to free their colleagues from a notorious prison and to foment an attack on GlobeTran, the corporation that has established an intrusive, ruthless dictatorship. The three friends split up, each working on separate missions. Reya goes undercover as a medic in the prison where two of her friends suffer. D’Shay starts selling contraband inside the local military base in an attempt to swing the soldiers there to New SUN’s side. Jaym, still morose after his fiancee’s death (The Fires of New SUN, 2012), reluctantly teams up with her sister to aid New SUN’s existing undercover network in the city. Kinch’s emphasis here is on intrigue rather than battles. The often stilted expository dialogue is compensated for by a few nifty robot foes, such as flying bugs and metallic dogs. These are in keeping with his futuristic setting, although most of the African town comes across as contemporary. Nevertheless, fans will identify with the three returning heroes and should enjoy the conclusion to the series, even though this story rarely mentions the series’ original premise of repopulating Africa. A satisfying conclusion. (Dystopian adventure. 12-16)
Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7387-3151-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Flux
Review Posted Online: Nov. 6, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Fine bedtime fare for readers looking to cut down on their sleep.
The bipolar young escort to newly dead souls introduced in Death Watch (2011) acquires potentially soul-corrupting powers and necromantic skills in this deliberately paced but strongly atmospheric middle volume.
Having prematurely succeeded his father as Undertaker in the ghost-ridden town of Lichport, Silas Umber makes his way to the thoroughly haunted ancestral estate of Arvale to continue his training as a psychopomp. There he meets the specters of family going back thousands of years, becomes enmeshed in their subtle intrigues and undergoes a ritual that gives him the ability to banish the restless dead from this world forever. He also inadvertently frees a mad, ancient spirit. In bringing her to rest, he learns some distinctly unwholesome spells from her cursed grandfather that, by the end, look to be leading him straight to an ugly fate. The spectral figures that mostly surround Silas are (somewhat) less frightening and the narrative’s measured language more somber than luridly melodramatic: “She stood in a long woolen gown, limned with flickering, melancholic fire, looking out over the twilight salt marshes.” The general scenario and tone, the many elements drawn from myth or folklore, and the ominous extracts from old books and journals printed in a variety of alternate typefaces are reminiscent of Joseph Delaney’s Last Apprentice series.
Fine bedtime fare for readers looking to cut down on their sleep. (Ghost story. 12-15)Pub Date: Feb. 12, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4169-9117-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
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