A thoughtful, exhilarating, and shocking continuation.
A teen guards her whale charges against new and deadlier threats in this follow-up to Under the Heavens (2022).
Kim Teng is no longer Caretaker for the Ark Project whales as they continue their journey on the spaceship Seiiki toward New Eden. Rather than abandon her duties, she continues communicating with the whales via her Link and updates her followers on Earth. Even with being accompanied by two Earth United scoutships and having withdrawn new Caretaker Yoshi, love interest Wren, and droid friend Adonai aboard, Kim fears an attack from the Crusaders, whom she previously supported, or the equally fanatical Adherants. When the Seiiki is sabotaged and crashes on New Eden, Kim races to get her friends into their new ocean home, struggling against limited resources, EU soldiers, and mysterious howling monsters lurking in the jungle. Compared to Kim’s solitary and more focused Caretaker experience, this journey, which includes a missing planet and multiple mind-bending mysteries, feels much broader, sometimes to the plot’s detriment. But the discussions of belief and the theme of change, as explored through the whales, the Seiiki’s computer, Adonai, and Kim herself, shine. Likewise, the religious overlay intersects thoughtfully with the element of colonialism. The romance is mature and realistically developed, and Kim’s history and its effect on her previous relationship is likewise understandable. The cast is diverse in race and nationality.
A thoughtful, exhilarating, and shocking continuation. (author’s notes) (Science fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2023
ISBN: 9780744309706
Page Count: 368
Publisher: CamCat Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Both entertaining and well-written; demands and holds readers’ attention.
A duology opener that revisits the world of Divergent (2011).
Beatrice “Tris” Prior is Divergent. But before she can select Dauntless, her Choosing Ceremony is interrupted by a group of factionless rebels, and her good friend is killed. Amid the chaos, Tris sees Evelyn, the wife of Abnegation leader Marcus Eaton—but Evelyn supposedly died years ago. And, shockingly, she’s an Amity woman who’s holding a gun. Tris doesn’t tell anyone, even her father, when he later questions her. Her brother, Caleb, chooses Erudite—the faction that’s most critical toward the Abnegation and their practices—and Tris feels pressured to stay in Abnegation. But when her father tries to erase her memories, she knows she’s unsafe. Tris’ mother helps her escape to the factionless, where Tris meets Four, a Dauntless boy. Their relationship shows her that she was right to leave Abnegation—and that maybe the rebels are correct to want the death of the faction system. As Tris becomes friends with the other “faction failures,” she realizes that no faction is as it seems, and that power is a corrupting influence they can’t escape. This exciting work revisits beloved characters, offering a new understanding of them and of what happens when we stand up and ask questions. Returning fans and those new to this world will appreciate the witty banter, slow-burn romance, and heartache stemming from betrayal and complicated familial love. The leads are cued white.
Both entertaining and well-written; demands and holds readers’ attention. (Dystopian. 13-18)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9780063462595
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2026
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in.
Black is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy.
Jude—broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness—has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others. Fierce and observant Jude is utterly unaware of the currents that swirl around her. She fights, plots, even murders enemies, but she must also navigate her relationship with her complex family (human, Faerie, and mixed). This is a heady blend of Faerie lore, high fantasy, and high school drama, dripping with description that brings the dangerous but tempting world of Faerie to life.
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-31027-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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