Nonstop action, horrific magic, and teen love.
After surviving the Call to the Grey Land and the attempted fairy invasion (The Call, 2016), Anto and Nessa hope to escape the limelight and live a quiet life together in the countryside, but the Irish government has other ideas.
Fourteen-year-old Anto is drafted into a military unit known only as the infestation squad, while Nessa is labeled a traitor to the nation and imprisoned. Cut off from the rest of the world, Ireland has been struggling with a crumbling infrastructure and limited provisions. But for the citizens, the worst is the certainty that at some point during adolescence, all will be called to try and survive for a day in the land of the Sídhe. But the brutal fairies have found a way to travel to Ireland and finally retake it for themselves. Nessa, disabled by polio but blessed by her fireproof skin, is forced to fight again. Anto must face his own demons as he struggles to master his Sídhe-given arm. The action is blood-soaked and brutal, but the angst-filled love story of teens torn apart by war is life-affirming. While the cast is all Irish, it is ethnically, spiritually, and sexually diverse. Students and faculty are South Asian and French. Soldiers are black and Asian. Characters profess to be Christians, atheists, and Celts. One character, Aoife, is openly gay.
Nonstop action, horrific magic, and teen love. (Fantasy/horror. 14-18)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-04562-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: David Fickling/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2018
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
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning.
Two teens train to be society-sanctioned killers in an otherwise immortal world.
On post-mortal Earth, humans live long (if not particularly passionate) lives without fear of disease, aging, or accidents. Operating independently of the governing AI (called the Thunderhead since it evolved from the cloud), scythes rely on 10 commandments, quotas, and their own moral codes to glean the population. After challenging Hon. Scythe Faraday, 16-year-olds Rowan Damisch and Citra Terranova reluctantly become his apprentices. Subjected to killcraft training, exposed to numerous executions, and discouraged from becoming allies or lovers, the two find themselves engaged in a fatal competition but equally determined to fight corruption and cruelty. The vivid and often violent action unfolds slowly, anchored in complex worldbuilding and propelled by political machinations and existential musings. Scythes’ journal entries accompany Rowan’s and Citra’s dual and dueling narratives, revealing both personal struggles and societal problems. The futuristic post–2042 MidMerican world is both dystopia and utopia, free of fear, unexpected death, and blatant racism—multiracial main characters discuss their diverse ethnic percentages rather than purity—but also lacking creativity, emotion, and purpose. Elegant and elegiac, brooding but imbued with gallows humor, Shusterman’s dark tale thrusts realistic, likable teens into a surreal situation and raises deep philosophic questions.
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning. (Science fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4424-7242-6
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
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