A powerful female protagonist fights for equality in a vivid, multifaceted fantasy world.
A young woman’s passion for mountain climbing threatens a brutal patriarchy founded on dark secrets in Dabney’s YA fantasy novel.
In the kingdom of Ectair, 17-year-old Klarke lives in a city where “mud and animal dung are as common…as boils and poverty.” She feels free only when climbing, “pressed against granite. Dangling from a thin rope, with no guarantees.” Her supportive instructor is the leader of the Ascenditures, elite climbers who maintain dams and bridges and risk their lives scaling a mountain to gather food and medicinal plants for the king. Klarke, the only woman trainee and the best climber, has competed twice for a chance to join the Ascenditures. The target of male derision and dislike, she outclimbs her competitors (while encumbered by the long skirt all women must wear), yet each time, the king’s judges grant victory to the male runner-up. Klarke’s determined to realize her dream: that is, if she can survive treachery, dark forces, and a king whose hatred is personal. Set in a kingdom where death can be the penalty for women who protest the male-dominated social order, this series launch is a well realized, unusually muscular, female-centered fantasy. There’s an old Bavaria-like flavor in the sure-handed worldbuilding here, which features horse-drawn carriages and cobbled streets, ships powered by sails, priestlike “päters,”and “holzenschreins” (shrines) to Ectair’s two gods. The kingdom’s history and underlying mythologies are woven into the plot with suspenseful intimations of not-yet-dead dark magic. Klarke’s deep love for climbing is authentically realized in the author’s informed portrayal of limb-shaking exhaustion, climbing injuries and deaths, and the search for foot- and fingerholds at seemingly unscalable heights. Can Klarke trust a seeming royal ally and her own heart? How did her mother and the queen really die? And can she truly free the subjugated women of the kingdom? Readers must wait for the next installment to follow Klarke’s search for the answers.
A powerful female protagonist fights for equality in a vivid, multifaceted fantasy world.Pub Date: May 14, 2024
ISBN: 9781646034758
Page Count: 324
Publisher: Fitzroy Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 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
A sweet if muddled tale of the magic of Appalachia.
A teenage witch goes up against the evil king of the mountain to save a cursed village.
Witch-in-training Verity Vox has spent a year apiece in different villages, helping in any way she can as she learns her art. When it’s time to move on, she receives a sign that shows her where to go next. When the latest sign appears in the form of a note begging for help that floats down on a leaf, she’s eager for the challenge. Verity winds up in Foxfire, a village in the Appalachian mountains that’s been magically cut off from the rest of the world for years, leaving its people close to starvation. The root of their suffering is a man they know as Earl, who lives in the hills and strikes deals with the townspeople that ultimately cause crops to wither, folks to disappear, and the only bridge out of the valley to crumble. Verity is determined to change the villagers’ fortunes, but to do so she’ll have to face off against not just Earl but the ancient power of the mountains itself. Loosely based on the Germanic Erlking legend and told in a voice reminiscent of folktales, the story features a queer romance and a cast that presents white. The convoluted magic system undercuts the strong themes of reciprocity, poverty, and privilege, but Appalachian readers will instantly recognize home.
A sweet if muddled tale of the magic of Appalachia. (Fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2025
ISBN: 9798890032706
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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