An addictive, original debut that will leave readers clamoring for more.
Formerly a luxury cruise ship, the Arcadia became a refuge for those fleeing Europe after a deadly virus was unleashed during biological warfare in this duology opener.
It’s 2094, and the refugees have been stranded shipboard in the Atlantic for 40 years—the isolationist Federated States, which seceded from the United States, will not admit them. Sixteen-year-old Esther and her boyfriend, Alex, are part of an elite group studying to be medics who will have the opportunity to work on land. Esther lives in her grandparents’ former honeymoon cabin with her parents and sister, May. Secretly in cahoots with Nikhil, her love interest, May and other renegades strive to liberate the passengers in a large-scale rebellion against Hadley, the ship’s authoritarian commander. Classism and systemic oppression persist, although race does not seem to be a factor, with comfortable upper-level cabins juxtaposed against poverty-ridden passengers known as Neaths who live beneath the waterline, are ruled by gangs, and never see the light of day. Over time the ship has become decrepit and food, scarce. Possession of outside information is cause for arrest. This fast-paced, action-packed, near-future thriller explores social and political issues that feel relevant today. The characters are well fleshed out through chapters that shift between various points of view. Esther’s arc, in particular, embodies an eye-opening journey. A morally gray cloud surrounds many characters, supporting plot twists. Main characters default to White; Nikhil and his family are British Punjabis.
An addictive, original debut that will leave readers clamoring for more. (Dystopian. 13-18)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-72825-812-6
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Cracking page-turner with a multiethnic band of misfits with differing sexual orientations who satisfyingly, believably jell...
Adolescent criminals seek the haul of a lifetime in a fantasyland at the beginning of its industrial age.
The dangerous city of Ketterdam is governed by the Merchant Council, but in reality, large sectors of the city are given over to gangs who run the gambling dens and brothels. The underworld's rising star is 17-year-old Kaz Brekker, known as Dirtyhands for his brutal amorality. Kaz walks with chronic pain from an old injury, but that doesn't stop him from utterly destroying any rivals. When a councilman offers him an unimaginable reward to rescue a kidnapped foreign chemist—30 million kruge!—Kaz knows just the team he needs to assemble. There's Inej, an itinerant acrobat captured by slavers and sold to a brothel, now a spy for Kaz; the Grisha Nina, with the magical ability to calm and heal; Matthias the zealot, hunter of Grishas and caught in a hopeless spiral of love and vengeance with Nina; Wylan, the privileged boy with an engineer's skills; and Jesper, a sharpshooter who keeps flirting with Wylan. Bardugo broadens the universe she created in the Grisha Trilogy, sending her protagonists around countries that resemble post-Renaissance northern Europe, where technology develops in concert with the magic that's both coveted and despised. It’s a highly successful venture, leaving enough open questions to cause readers to eagerly await Volume 2.
Cracking page-turner with a multiethnic band of misfits with differing sexual orientations who satisfyingly, believably jell into a family . (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62779-212-7
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
BOOK TO SCREEN
Intervals of intense suspense and a well-crafted puzzle blend to create a thrill ride of a story.
Red Kenny and her friends’ spring break road trip veers off course when they are detained by a sniper.
Since her police captain mother’s murder, Red has been inseparable from Maddy Lavoy, though it’s often difficult for Red to witness the warm family dynamics Maddy and her brother, Oliver, share with their mother, an assistant DA and Red’s late mother’s best friend. Red, the Lavoy siblings, and three other friends—Reyna Flores-Serrano, Arthur Moore, and Simon Yoo—embark in a borrowed RV on a journey to Gulf Shores but instead find themselves in the crosshairs of a long-range rifle held by a man demanding that one of them reveal an important secret. As Red battles internally with her guilt and grief over her mother’s death, her companions become increasingly volatile and paranoid as the group tries to discern whose secret is the one the hostage taker is after. The sometimes-tedious, sometimes-intense moment-by-moment breakdown of events in the 31-foot RV (that seems much smaller as the night wears on) magnifies the claustrophobia. Subtle indications that no one can really be trusted alternate with mind-blowing revelations. Toxic masculinity is often at war with common sense and good judgment, and moral ambiguity abounds. Red, Arthur, and the Lavoy siblings read White; Reyna is Mexican American, and Simon is cued as biracial (Korean and White). (This review has been updated to correct a character’s name.)
Intervals of intense suspense and a well-crafted puzzle blend to create a thrill ride of a story. (maps) (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-37416-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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