Full of bites and intermittent sparks.
Four teens navigate a world ravaged by a rabies mutation.
Since her older brother, Cain, was injured during a supply run, Flora, who has OCD, has had to sharpen her survival skills to stay alive in a world brimming with flesh-hungry, zombielike rabids. Their mom died around the time of the initial outbreak, and their dad left months ago to scout out a cabin in Northern California, where the family spent numerous summers vacationing. A mysterious radio message suggests that their dad might still be alive, and Flora and Cain prepare to journey north, away from their home in an increasingly dangerous Los Angeles. The siblings run into two other survivors—their old friend Crisanta and her companion, Adán. While Crisanta and Adán keep the details of their history secret, Flora contends with her growing feelings for Crisanta, whose past romantic entanglement with Cain complicates matters. An uneasy alliance forms as the foursome travels through a rabid-infested California. Occasionally tense but rarely spine-chilling, this apocalyptic tale primarily focuses on the group’s gruesome road trip, with occasional chapters spotlighting a pre-outbreak excursion taken by Flora’s family. Marie leans heavily into juicy, grotesque gore, whose shock value dulls as the story goes on. An overreliance on genre tropes mars the otherwise fine character work. Flora and Cain are of Colombian and Irish descent. Adán, who’s trans, has Colombian and Mexican heritage, and Crisanta is cued Mexican American.
Full of bites and intermittent sparks. (Horror. 14-18)Pub Date: June 17, 2025
ISBN: 9781250352699
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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
Lush, angsty, queer horror.
When the monsters they imagine come to life, two boys fight for their lives—and each other.
Andrew Perrault, who’s from Australia, writes beautiful, macabre fairy tales. His roommate at his American boarding school, Wickwood Academy, is talented artist Thomas Rye, who brings his stories to vivid life in paint and charcoal. Andrew’s twin sister, Dove, is all but ignoring him, so he has plenty of time to focus on Thomas’ increasingly odd behavior. Thomas’ parents disappeared just before the new school year started, and Andrew noticed blood on his roommate’s sleeve on their first day back. When he follows Thomas into the forest one night, Andrew discovers him fighting one of the monsters that Thomas has drawn from these stories. The boys soon find themselves coping with vicious bullies by day and fighting monsters by night. At the same time, Andrew struggles to reconcile his feelings for Thomas with his growing awareness of his own asexuality. But when the sinister Antler King breaches Wickwood’s walls, Andrew realizes that he and Thomas may not survive their own creations. This novel, written in rich, extravagant prose, features frank portrayals of disordered eating, self-harm, bullying, and mental illness. Andrew grapples realistically with his sexual identity, and the story has ample genuinely creepy moments with the monsters. Andrew, Thomas, and Dove are white.
Lush, angsty, queer horror. (content warning) (Horror. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781250895660
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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