A lonely, motherless girl with a clockwork heart risks everything to create a mechanical friend in a futuristic Ireland where computers are forbidden.
After an ill-defined technological crisis known as the Turn caused a devastating epidemic, Ireland was divided into Pale and Pasture—sick and well—and now spurns all but the most necessary technology. The citizens of the Pale are all missing parts, but prostheses are "augmentations" rather than disadvantages. Gay and gender-fluid characters appear without remark. Dark-haired, brown-skinned Nell Starling-Crane, whose father fashions the sophisticated prostheses, is nevertheless set apart; she's the only citizen with a mechanical heart, the loud ticking of which makes her self-conscious. Contributing to adult society is crucial for avoiding a life in stonework or marriage, but despite a looming project deadline, Nell has no ideas…until she decides to build a sentient android companion from ancient computer parts, defying the law against artificial intelligence. Griffin explores the ethical quandaries of progress, love, class, and ambition in language as ornate as the characters' decorated prostheses; sometimes a phrase catches the eye, and sometimes the heavy mix of metaphors almost camouflages the story underneath. Chapters alternate between third-person accounts of Nell's exploits and second-person observations of Nell's past and present. The observer is not always clear, which makes the perspective shifts disorienting. Nevertheless, the plot is compelling, full of secrets, blackmail, and betrayals that resolve at just the right moments—convenient, yes, but satisfying.
Though occasionally uneven, this poetic, Frankenstein-esque tale forms a page-turning whole. (Science fiction. 13 & up)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-240888-4
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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Four reimagined fairy-tale heroines must confront their inner demons to break a curse.
Ella, Yuki, and Rory attend the prestigious Grimrose Académie for Elite Students in the Swiss Alps. They are currently grieving the death of one of their best friends, and while Ari’s death by drowning has been deemed either an accident or suicide, her closest friends have their doubts. When they find an old book of fairy tales hidden in Ari’s things, full of strange annotations in her handwriting, the girls start working—along with new student Nani—to investigate Ari’s suspicious death. As they put together the pieces and discover other deaths that happened at Grimrose, they start to wonder if there was magic involved in Ari’s death—magic that may also be at the core of their very lives, cursing them to unhappy endings. Grief, identity, and friendship intersect in this enthralling mystery with dark magical undertones that ingeniously plays with fairy-tale tropes to tell a feminist story about empowerment and grappling with how to break away from the confines of societal expectations of girls. Reminiscent of the works of Anna-Marie McLemore and Elana K. Arnold, this book ends with the promise of more to come. The main cast is queer and features diversity in disability and mental health. Rory and Ella default to White; Yuki’s name cues her as Japanese, and Nani is Black and Native Hawaiian.
Fans of empowering feminist fairy-tale retellings will love this. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-72822-887-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
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A must-read with a conclusion that will leave readers craving more.
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A monster spreads madness through the streets of Shanghai.
It is the autumn of 1926, and Shanghai is poised at the brink of transformation. Foreign powers have carved out portions of the city for themselves; what remains is divided between two feuding gangs, the Chinese Scarlet Gang and the Russian White Flowers. Eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai has returned home from New York City, wreathed in a reputation for ruthlessness and ready to step into her role as heir to the Scarlet Gang. Four years ago, a betrayal by the White Flowers heir, Roma Montagov, a young man of 19, led to the deaths of countless Scarlets, and Juliette is determined to avenge her gang. But when a lethal contagion strikes the city, targeting Scarlets and White Flowers alike, Juliette and Roma grudgingly agree to cooperate on an investigation in order to save their city. The slow-burning romance in this book takes a back seat to the gripping mystery grounded in immersive historical detail. Allusions to Romeo and Juliet are evident in names and specific scenes, but familiar themes of family, loyalty, and identity bear new significance in Gong’s inventive adaptation. Language is a tool wielded deftly by the multilingual characters, who switch easily among English, French, Shanghainese, Russian, and more, with Mandarin as the primary dialect for Chinese phrases. A strong supporting cast that includes a trans girl completes this striking debut.
A must-read with a conclusion that will leave readers craving more. (Historical fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-5769-0
Page Count: 464
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
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