A fantasy heist long on worldbuilding and short on theft.
Following her mother’s midheist disappearance, Sky Hawkins wants to determine what happened and repair her grieving family and their fall in wyvern society. Wyverns, this Earth’s famous-for-being-famous people, are formerly shape-shifting dragons exiled from Home. They look like and live among humans but have their own customs and rules; hoard size conveys status, and teens come of age with a first heist. Sky assembles her crew—loyal boyfriend, Ryan, whose vault Sky’s mother was robbing; book-smart human Gabriela Marquez, who mostly exists to drive Sky around and feel worthless compared to the adventurous wyverns; and brown-skinned wyvern wizard Maximus, who has his own plans—and schemes to follow her mother’s trail while Sky’s three protective older brothers and her father keep secrets. The heist is absurdly simple (they have an inside guy) and quickly gives way to many revelations and a journey Home, followed by a return and the requisite upending of society. Sky’s incredible wealth and privilege are acknowledged in her wry narration, but the poor-little-rich-girl refrain and self-consumed approach make her hard to like. Secondary characters largely lack depth. On the other hand, hints of the larger world—like wyvern-run California—intrigue. The Hawkins family is assumed white.
A quick read not without pleasures, but the premise is the best part. (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: Dec. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-101-93100-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2018
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Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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Someone is murdering high school students. Most freeze in fear, but a brave few try to stop the killings.
Senior Makani Young has been living in corn-obsessed Nebraska for just a little over a year. She has developed a crush and made some friends, but a dark secret keeps her from truly opening up to those around her. As the only half–African-American and half–Native Hawaiian student in her school, she already stands out, but as the killing spree continues, the press descends, and rumors fly, Makani is increasingly nervous that her past will be exposed. However, the charming and incredibly shy Ollie, a white boy with hot-pink hair, a lip ring, and wanderlust, provides an excellent distraction from the horror and fear. Graphic violence and bloody mayhem saturate this high-speed slasher story. And while Makani’s secret and the killer’s hidden identity might keep the pages turning, this is less a psychological thriller and more a study in gore. The intimacy and precision of the killer’s machinations hint at some grand psychological reveal, but lacking even basic jump-scares, this tale is high in yuck and low in fright. The tendency of the characters toward preachy inner monologues feels false.
Bloody? Yes. Scary? No. (Horror. 14-16)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-525-42601-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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