Shadowy, gothic, labyrinthine.
A homecoming spurs a strange family’s transformation.
Eleanor has left her nun-led boarding school after a violent incident with another student. She’s been away for years, without a single letter from her sister in response to dozens of hers and with only the foggiest memories of her extended family. When she arrives at her ancestral home in the small Maine town of Winterport, the mystery isn’t whether or not she comes from a family of werewolves but rather why she can’t find a wolf inside herself. Other questions swirl around her mother, whose body is half-covered in amphibian polyps; her grandmother’s enigmatic accountant, whom everyone is slightly in love with and who hasn’t aged in decades; and the long absence of her maternal grandmother, a stout, lavender-scented woman from France who goes by Grandmere and, like everyone else in this story, is more than she seems. Extended chapters with long, florid descriptions of the setting make the story drag somewhat. Keeping the tale tightly tied to an atmospheric old mansion and a reclusive, tightknit, supernaturally dysfunctional family gives it an almost claustrophobic feel. The decline of an old family with European roots is a classic theme in literature, here given horror-novel elements, with a slowness and complexity best suited for patient older readers.
Shadowy, gothic, labyrinthine. (Horror. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-374-31430-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
A fantasy with complex characterization that will build anticipation for the next entry.
Three young people find their places in a world of vengeance and destiny in National Book Award winner Tahir’s duology opener set in the multicultural world of her An Ember in the Ashes series.
Aiz, from the impoverished nation of Kegar, seeks revenge against Tiral bet-Hiwa, an air squadron commander who, as a child, murdered Aiz’s fellow orphans. Guided by a voice claiming to be Mother Div, Kegar’s first queen, Aiz escapes imprisonment after her failed assassination attempt on Tiral and embarks on a journey to free Mother Div’s trapped spirit. In the Martial Empire, Sirsha, a skilled tracker with magical abilities who’s been banished from her homeland, is saved by a stranger who hires her to hunt an unnatural killer. Quil, the crown prince of the Martial Empire, faces an invasion by the Kegari and the lingering threat of a mysterious force responsible for recent murders, including those of two of his loved ones. As the storylines converge, Sirsha and Quil cross paths, leading to revelations about the insidious force. The story explores the blurred line between good and evil and the lengths one will go to for a better life. Tahir’s deep and intricate worldbuilding requires time for readers to fully grasp. Following a slow start, the plot engages as pieces fall into place, leading up to an unexpected ending. The beautiful writing compensates for the romantic relationships, which develop quickly and somewhat inorganically.
A fantasy with complex characterization that will build anticipation for the next entry. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9780593616949
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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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