A delectably moody supernatural nail-biter.
A teenager in the early 20th century enters into a precarious relationship with a cult in this debut dark fantasy.
To avoid working for his abusive stepfather, Max Grahame takes a job at the post office in his small Georgia town. The postmaster, Peter Sylvester, and his wife, Addie, seem to take a liking to the 15-year-old. But Max quickly learns of their eccentricities when they take him to a séance. Peter and Addie belong to the Brotherhood of the Aurora, a spiritualist faction whose members believe in and practice “occult phenomena.” Evidently certain that Max has potential, Peter sends the teen to study at an academy of sorts in Nebraska. Max has little choice but to agree, as local cops are eying him for a recent murder he witnessed. Once in Nebraska, he joins other “initiates” in honing such abilities as mind reading, astral travel, and, in Max’s case, psychokinesis. Sadly, as he had left behind his family, Max longs to return home only to learn that his stay at the school may not be voluntary. Soon, he has no idea whom he can trust, and he’ll have to form alliances with potentially dangerous individuals just to keep himself safe. Schattel wastes little time in establishing a brooding atmosphere. For example, the story offers an early introduction to Mister Splitfoot, a “man-spirit” who torments Max throughout the novel. Indelible prose further augments the environment: “Stale chilly air. The stink of saliva. A clutter of upturned chairs, decayed, crumbling tables and medicinal cabinets.” In the same vein, a host of characters is ambiguous, as Max is never sure what seemingly amiable person will ultimately become a menace. The author adds fantasy trademarks, including displays of paranormal capabilities, sometimes in tense, combative sequences. There are some notably violent scenes, like Max as a “blood boy,” assisting a doctor during a particularly visceral operation.
A delectably moody supernatural nail-biter. (dedication, author’s note, author bio)Pub Date: July 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-950305-44-5
Page Count: 330
Publisher: JournalStone
Review Posted Online: Sept. 11, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An engaging, imaginative narrative hampered by its lack of subtlety.
The Medusa myth, reimagined as an Afrocentric, feminist tale with the Gorgon recast as avenging hero.
In mythological Greece, where gods still have a hand in the lives of humans, 17-year-old Medusa lives on an island with her parents, old sea gods who were overthrown at the rise of the Olympians, and her sisters, Euryale and Stheno. The elder sisters dote on Medusa and bond over the care of her “locs...my dearest physical possession.” Their idyll is broken when Euryale is engaged to be married to a cruel demi-god. Medusa intervenes, and a chain of events leads her to a meeting with the goddess Athena, who sees in her intelligence, curiosity, and a useful bit of rage. Athena chooses Medusa for training in Athens to become a priestess at the Parthenon. She joins the other acolytes, a group of teenage girls who bond, bicker, and compete in various challenges for their place at the temple. As an outsider, Medusa is bullied (even in ancient Athens white girls rudely grab a Black girl’s hair) and finds a best friend in Apollonia. She also meets a nameless boy who always seems to be there whenever she is in need; this turns out to be Poseidon, who is grooming the inexplicably naïve Medusa. When he rapes her, Athena finds out and punishes Medusa and her sisters by transforming their locs into snakes. The sisters become Gorgons, and when colonizing men try to claim their island, the killing begins. Telling a story of Black female power through the lens of ancient myth is conceptually appealing, but this novel published as adult fiction reads as though intended for a younger audience.
An engaging, imaginative narrative hampered by its lack of subtlety.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9780593733769
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
Though it falters a bit under its own weight, this series still has plenty of fight left.
In this long-awaited fifth installment of Shannon’s Bone Season series, the threat to the clairvoyant community spreads like a plague across Europe.
After extending her fight against the Republic of Scion to Paris, Paige Mahoney, leader of London’s clairvoyant underworld and a spy for the resistance movement, finds herself further outside her comfort zone when she wakes up in a foreign place with no recollection of getting there. More disturbing than her last definitive memory, in which her ally-turned-lover Arcturus seems to betray her, is that her dreamscape—the very soul of her clairvoyance—has been altered, as if there’s a veil shrouding both her memories and abilities. Paige manages to escape and learns she’s been missing and presumed dead for six months. Even more shocking is that she’s somehow outside of Scion’s borders, in the free world where clairvoyants are accepted citizens. She gets in touch with other resistance fighters and journeys to Italy to reconnect with the Domino Programme intelligence network. In stark contrast to the potential of life in the free world is the reality that Scion continues to stretch its influence, with Norway recently falling and Italy a likely next target. Paige is enlisted to discover how Scion is bending free-world political leaders to its will, but before Paige can commit to her mission, she has her own mystery to solve: Where in the world is Arcturus? Paige’s loyalty to Arcturus is tested as she decides how much to trust in their connection and how much information to reveal to the Domino Programme about the Rephaite—the race of immortals from the Netherworld, Arcturus’ people—and their connection to the founding of Scion, as well as the presence of clairvoyant abilities on Earth. While the book is impressively multilayered, the matter-of-fact way in which details from the past are sprinkled throughout will have readers constantly flipping to the glossary. As the series’ scope and the implications of the war against Scion expand, Shannon’s narrative style reads more action-thriller than fantasy. Paige’s powers as a dreamwalker are rarely used here, but when clairvoyance is at play, the story shines.
Though it falters a bit under its own weight, this series still has plenty of fight left.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2025
ISBN: 9781639733965
Page Count: 576
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
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