Stokes’ engaging prose and sympathetic characters serve up great lessons in acceptance for teens dealing with trauma.
A seemingly cursed teen tests her luck.
Sixteen-year-old Maguire has had it rough. Five years prior, she was the lone survivor of a car crash that claimed the lives of her father, brother, and uncle. A year later, the roller coaster carriage she was in careened off the track, critically injuring everyone else around her. Shortly after that, when the white teen found herself running toward her neighbor’s house as it was engulfed by flames, Stokes’ besieged protagonist wound up in therapy, where this bildungsroman opens and much of its introspective character development plays out, session by session. Viewing herself a “disaster magnet” rather than uncannily lucky, Maguire suffers so terribly from survivor’s guilt that she begins actively avoiding others, thinking “accidentally hurting yourself is way better than hurting other people.” As Maguire’s fears and compulsive coping mechanisms threaten to derail her adolescence, she meets an alluring, white classmate in her therapist’s waiting room—with a few issues of his own to work out—and the two team up to see if each can exorcise the other’s demons. Though the disasters in Stokes’s calamity-filled plotline occur with soap-operatic frequency, the progression of Maguire’s treatment unfolds convincingly as she attempts the various cognitive behavioral challenges her therapist sets before her.
Stokes’ engaging prose and sympathetic characters serve up great lessons in acceptance for teens dealing with trauma. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 17, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-237996-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2016
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense.
Everyone believes that Salil Singh killed his girlfriend, Andrea Bell, five years ago—except Pippa Fitz-Amobi.
Pip has known and liked Sal since childhood; he’d supported her when she was being bullied in middle school. For her senior capstone project, Pip researches the disappearance of former Fairview High student Andie, last seen on April 18, 2014, by her younger sister, Becca. The original investigation concluded with most of the evidence pointing to Sal, who was found dead in the woods, apparently by suicide. Andie’s body was never recovered, and Sal was assumed by most to be guilty of abduction and murder. Unable to ignore the gaps in the case, Pip sets out to prove Sal’s innocence, beginning with interviewing his younger brother, Ravi. With his help, Pip digs deeper, unveiling unsavory facts about Andie and the real reason Sal’s friends couldn’t provide him with an alibi. But someone is watching, and Pip may be in more danger than she realizes. Pip’s sleuthing is both impressive and accessible. Online articles about the case and interview transcripts are provided throughout, and Pip’s capstone logs offer insights into her thought processes as new evidence and suspects arise. Jackson’s debut is well-executed and surprises readers with a connective web of interesting characters and motives. Pip and Andie are white, and Sal is of Indian descent.
A treat for mystery readers who enjoy being kept in suspense. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-9636-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
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