This SF symphony mostly hits the right notes in this trilogy opener.
Miltenberg’s YA SF tale suggests that post-apocalyptic worlds don't have to be gruesome or dreary.
The Nation of the Frii follows a religion built on classic rock and uses giant dragonflies for transportation. Soniqa StarCloud is a teen who is most comfortable on her dragonfly, Lucy. Soniqa and her six-member band, the Beyond, face their Proving, a coming-of-age ritual. Their tribe’s priestess, the High Holy Roller, sends them on a mission of exploration beyond the Prismatic Edge. First, they discover KelpLand, a mass of kelp clusters. Next, the band learns to camp on a cloudplain. Finally, they reach their goal: the Prismatic Edge. Soniqa observes a momentary hole in the Edge that will allow them to cross it. The next time the opening appears, she and her mate Vol go through. Inside, they find the nation of Emo-At, in which a gray populace is rendered mute by their leadership. Among these sheeplike people lives Statistic, a Frii captured decades before who chose to assimilate. Soniqa and Vol escape, and the band returns home, where they become legendary for their exploits. But as she ages, Soniqa can’t escape the fear that the Emo-At aren’t done with the Frii. This volume is the first in Miltenberg’s Sound of Light trilogy, which he describes as “a sci-fi word-symphony in three movements.” This book’s function as a scene-setter becomes obvious when not much happens in the final quarter of the book beyond the Frii leadership exploiting the band’s discoveries. The author does an admirable job of establishing an extensive backstory for his world; still, while his bastardized versions of names and places start out cute, the conceit soon feels like it devolves into a game of deciphering vanity license plates. (If ever a tome cried out for a glossary, this is it.) Miltenberg has successfully introduced a colorful world—if readers can absorb it all.
This SF symphony mostly hits the right notes in this trilogy opener.Pub Date: March 31, 2024
ISBN: 9798321503959
Page Count: 226
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression.
After surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself.
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself; her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out; her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply; and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her—who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves—Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way "girls who write their pain on their bodies" scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together.
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93471-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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