An uneven but ultimately gripping sequel.
The stakes are high as full-blown war pits dragon against human.
In the series opener, A Language of Dragons (2025), set in a fantastical alternate 1923 London where dragons live alongside people, aspiring Draconic Translator Viven Featherswallow accidentally ignited a war. She landed at Bletchley Park, deciphering rebel dragon communications for a government she wasn’t sure she could trust. In this second entry, Vivien has not only joined the resistance, she’s become “London’s most wanted rebel.” Propelled by grief over a love she’s lost, fear for a sister she hopes to keep safe, and skepticism toward her political leaders, Vivien tentatively sets out to crack a sacred, nearly untranslatable language. In the process, she immerses herself in the world of the distrustful Hebridean Wyverns, whose lives and culture may open her eyes to new ways of being. The secondary cast, including Vivien’s love interest, are thinly characterized, and some plot elements feel derivative of other popular YA genre fiction works. But Vivien’s changing understanding of translation as a tool for both communication and oppression remains compelling, and her fight to find her place in the world and the revolution forms the heartbeat of the book. Though comparisons to the popular dragon-rider romance Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros are inevitable, readers who were drawn to the complex draconic politics of Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina may find more to sink their teeth into here. Characters largely read white.
An uneven but ultimately gripping sequel. (author’s note) (Historical fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9780063353862
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
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
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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