A lot of creative ideas that don’t quite come together, but fans of the first book will enjoy the continuation of the story.
An unlikely group of heroes must find a way to survive—and save a nation.
Picking up immediately after events in The Smoke Thieves (2018), the battle over Rossarb rages, and it quickly becomes clear that the city is lost and the only choice left is to flee to the Northern Plateau, into demon country. Catherine, a princess fighting against her own country; Ambrose, her knight, protector, and possibly more; Edyon, the illegitimate son of a prince; March, a servant with mixed allegiances; and Tash, a scrappy young demon hunter, along with a few loyal soldiers, run for their lives with the Brigantine army on their heels. Entering the demon world leads them into a lair of magic and violence that pushes each toward their own destiny. In this uneven book, some elements feel well thought out, particularly those relating to the construction of the demon world. However, the characters are mostly one-dimensional, making it hard for readers to feel invested in whether they live or die or even in their romances (which lack chemistry). Considering the length, there is very little progress or action, and showing often takes precedence over telling, making certain points feel heavy-handed.
A lot of creative ideas that don’t quite come together, but fans of the first book will enjoy the continuation of the story. (map, places and characters) (Fantasy. 13-16)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-425-29024-8
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
The characters are mere flat sketches, but with a magical circus girl who escapes from chains while dangling from a burning...
The daughter of a famous Las Vegas magician wants an illusionist career of her own more than she wants to go to college.
Moira's stage magician dad is adamant that his 18-year-old daughter will never be on the stage, so she runs away to join the circus. At the Cirque American (which also hosted the companion novel Girl on a Wire, 2015), Moira begins as a lowly midway performer. Her escape artistry, practiced in secret and never tested before an audience, must be stellar before she'll be invited to perform in the big top. Luckily for Moira, her tricks are astounding—with the added spice of a newly discovered talent for magic. From tarot-reading Nan, Moira learns of the Praestigae: the semimagical traveling con artists whence Moira herself must have originated, presumably through her long-lost mother. Lo and behold, a pale-skinned redhead who looks much like Moira herself arrives on cue at the Cirque American, issuing dire warnings for Moira to abandon her magic. But without magic, can Moira continue to add difficulty to her escalating hair-raising escapes? Can she save the requisite tanned and pretty bad boy, with his eyes that "flash like pennies tossed into the air," from his own demons?
The characters are mere flat sketches, but with a magical circus girl who escapes from chains while dangling from a burning rope off a Ferris wheel, does it matter? (Fantasy. 13-16)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5039-5393-2
Page Count: 412
Publisher: Skyscape
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2016
Paced like a television police procedural, with flashes of epiphany, false leads, and race-against-time dangers, this...
Sherlock Holmes, if Holmes were a biracial, at-risk, 16-year-old slacker—a genius stoner who consorts with burglars and homeless dropouts.
Garvie is many things: a math whiz and certified genius with a photographic memory; a layabout who rarely goes to class; a smartarse; "a rational thinker, precise and unsentimental." His friends call him Sherlock and Puzzle Boy. He's also the ex-boyfriend of Chloe Dow, a violet-eyed, busty, charismatic, unpopular—and now dead—blonde white girl. Chloe's murder knocks Garvie out of his bored semistupor. Despite his mother's threats to move the family to her native Barbados, Garvie throws himself into the investigation with all his reckless brilliance. Detective Inspector Singh, the Sikh police officer investigating Chloe's murder, is torn between exasperation and reluctant gratitude for the boy's Holmes-ian deductions. Garvie ponders seemingly unrelated clues—a black Porsche, a shopping list, ugly lime-green–and-orange running shoes—and puts together a disturbing story of victimization. Girls and women in Garvie's world seem mostly to be ineffectual, oversexed, or victims of violent and sexually predatory men. Meanwhile, though Garvie himself is a welcome mixed-race detective, several of the other characters are drawn with stale, albeit affectionate stereotypes.
Paced like a television police procedural, with flashes of epiphany, false leads, and race-against-time dangers, this satisfying whodunit overcomes its characterization shortcomings. (Mystery. 13-15)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-338-03642-8
Page Count: 432
Publisher: David Fickling/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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