A fast-paced and delightfully readable teen adventure set in vampire territory.
In Fulleman’s YA follow-up to Faces in the Flames (2018), a group of teens investigates a haunted castle.
Fifteen-year-old Katie (described as “a good person to have as a friend, always there for whoever needed her”) and her friends Cam Lund (the main character of the previous novel), John, and Ruth are spending the summer studying abroad in Eastern Europe. They find themselves in Romania at Bran Castle, which at one point in its history imprisoned the infamous Vlad the Impaler and later housed the country’s king and queen. The teens adventures involve enigmatic state operatives, strange ancient objects, and a tall pale gentleman who bears a strong resemblance to a certain supernatural count. Most of this pleasingly complex plot revolves around the fact that, for years, the preserved heart of Queen Marie of Romania was kept in the castle: “It still sounds kind of gross,” Cam deadpans, “but I guess if you love a place so much....” As the plot accelerates, the teenage heroes find themselves caught between mystical and real-world forces. Fulleman is a spirited writer who carefully pitches his narrative at a teen audience. The straightforward text feels unadorned, and his descriptions are clean and minimalist. Even during dramatic high points, the prose is simple and staccato, as when Katie confronts a mysterious stranger who tries to grab a strange pendant she’s found: “The man made one quick step backwards. His face twisted. He looked down at the pendant and then dropped it as though it was on fire. A burning pain stung his fingers. Loudly, he said, ‘Vrăjitoare!’ ” Apart from Katie, Fulleman’s characters feel largely interchangeable, but each gets some snappy dialogue, and the pace never flags.
A fast-paced and delightfully readable teen adventure set in vampire territory.Pub Date: Feb. 22, 2023
ISBN: 978-0988643437
Page Count: 234
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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