A sparkling debut that leaves the reader’s mental wheels turning.
Some memories risk doing more harm than good in this cerebral debut novel of speculative fiction.
Jay Shipman’s life is pretty standard, if nerdy, teenage fare as he navigates his science camp ambitions, position on a popular video game leaderboard, and feelings for Twila Mason, his quirky crush. But the twin moons above Jay’s sleepy town put the lie to this apparent familiarity, and Jay’s world, Duorth, has plenty more to set it apart from our own. The most obvious and incredible feature of Duorth is that its people are aware of Earth. In fact, they’re reincarnations of earthlings and even dream their memories of past lives. But when Jay begins to have these recollections himself, the contents threaten to upend his life entirely and throw all understanding of his world and ours out of balance. Recalling a life as a scientist working on a biological weapon—a veritable doomsday device—for an authoritarian government forces Jay to question his own affinity for biological science and epidemiology. And the apparent brilliance of his abused, frightened past self threatens to draw the eyes of the governments of Duorth’s three great nations and reshape the world as he knows it for all time. The storytelling here unfolds adeptly, although the dialogue occasionally falters: “Jay, your name tag says you’re here for biology. What kind of biology stuff are you interested in?” Jay’s inquisitive nature makes for an engaging protagonist, but the real star is the worldbuilding. Duorth could easily appear as a broad caricature of modern life on Earth. Instead, it’s a fascinating world with its own unique slants on religion, geopolitics, and education, particularly when it comes to the study of past lives and the way Duorthians depend on them for scientific and cultural advancement. Also, these details are all delivered seamlessly, without the need for long, clumsy exposition.
A sparkling debut that leaves the reader’s mental wheels turning.Pub Date: June 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-73229-640-4
Page Count: 253
Publisher: Gazebo Bookworks
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
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BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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