An epic, futuristic tale continues with proficient, zestful writing.
A teenage psychic tries to stop an invention and prevent a massacre in the second installment of Dunn’s (Forget Tomorrow, 2015, etc.) YA sci-fi series.
Ten years ago, 6-year-old Jessa Stone was a captive of the Future Memory Agency, which aimed to create technology to see into the future and change it. The key to inventing that tech was her own psychic link to her older sister, Callie, who sacrificed herself to try to subvert a genocide that she witnessed in a vision. Jessa and other psychics subsequently went on the run for years, but a treaty with the Committee of Agencies eventually afforded them legal refuge in a wilderness community called Harmony. Now Dresden, the chairwoman of the defunct FuMA, wants to recruit Jessa to work at the Technology Research Agency. Jessa says no even though Dresden shows her a holo-vid recording of a vision from Dresden’s precognitive, never-seen daughter, Olivia, showing Jessa as the chairwoman’s assistant. But Jessa had a dream about FuMA’s old offices that makes her suspicious—apparently, the dream was a message from Olivia. Sure enough, it turns out that FuMA’s experiments with psychics are still continuing. Jessa believes that the answer to stopping future memory may lie in the past, so she teams up with TechRA scientist Tanner Callahan, who’s difficult to trust but easy to fall for, to find a way to travel through time. Dunn ramps up the tension by laying out plenty of hurdles for her protagonist; for example, Jessa’s time with Tanner leads her Harmony allies to abandon her as a traitor “cavorting with the enemy.” The author also deftly links this second installment with the first, providing breezy recaps, addressing questions, and including details on Jessa’s absentee father. The romance between Jessa and Tanner is winsome, although it unfortunately sidelines Jessa’s charming friend Ryder. The novel’s second half offers abundant surprises, including another, more understated, but equally appealing romance and a risky journey. Once again, Dunn masterfully sets the stage for another series entry.
An epic, futuristic tale continues with proficient, zestful writing.Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63375-495-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship.
A battered girl and an injured rugby star spark up an ill-advised romance at an Irish secondary school.
Beautiful, waiflike, 15-year-old Shannon has lived her entire life in Ballylaggin. Alternately bullied at school and beaten by her ne’er-do-well father, she’s hopeful for a fresh start at Tommen, a private school. Seventeen-year-old Johnny, who has a hair-trigger temper and a severe groin injury, is used to Dublin’s elite-level rugby but, since his family’s move to County Cork, is now stuck captaining Tommen’s middling team. When Johnny angrily kicks a ball and knocks Shannon unconscious (“a soft female groan came from her lips”), a tentative relationship is born. As the two grow closer, Johnny’s past and Shannon’s present become serious obstacles to their budding love, threatening Shannon’s safety. Shannon’s portrayal feels infantilized (“I looked down at the tiny little female under my arm”), while Johnny comes across as borderline obsessive (“I knew I shouldn’t be touching her, but how the hell could I not?”). Uneven pacing and choppy sentences lead to a sudden climax and an unsatisfyingly abrupt ending. Repetitive descriptions, abundant and misogynistic dialogue (Johnny, to his best friend: “who’s the bitch with a vagina now?”), and graphic violence also weigh down this lengthy tome (considerably trimmed down from its original, self-published length). The cast of lively, well-developed supporting characters, especially Johnny’s best friend and Shannon’s protective older brother, is a bright spot. Major characters read white.
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship. (author’s note, pronunciations, glossary, song moments, playlists) (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781728299945
Page Count: 626
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
Plenty of heat but not enough substance to keep the fire burning.
A romantically entangled stepbrother and stepsister in Los Angeles navigate their tumultuous history and take their relationship to new levels in this translated title by an Argentinian author.
Nick and Noah are madly in love: Their mutual attraction is established as the book opens with Noah’s 18th birthday party, during which she and Nick have an explicitly described sexual encounter behind the pool house. This fiery scene sets the stage for twists and turns in the lovers’ journey, including a separation when Noah is forced to go on a monthlong mother-daughter European tour. But reminders of their pasts (chronicled in the 2023 series opener, My Fault) threaten to undermine their stability. Nick’s wealthy estranged mother makes an unfortunate appearance, while Noah is haunted by the trauma of her father’s violent death. The blend of everyday complications (jealousy, parental disapproval) with frothy visions of high-society life is at once lacking in subtlety and intimately irresistible. The series initially gained popularity on Wattpad, and the novel follows the episodic structure typical of works on that site; sensual encounters occur at reliable intervals. Still, the characters and their milieu feel formulaic, and the writing is stilted. The differences between the two—Nick is five years older and has an office job; Noah has just finished high school—makes their suffocatingly possessive relationship feel particularly squirm-worthy. Nick and Noah and their families read white.
Plenty of heat but not enough substance to keep the fire burning. (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781728290768
Page Count: 450
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023
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