by Sasha Stephenson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 13, 2016
Faced with the inconsistent plotting, indifference to geography and climate, and sloppy execution, readers are more likely...
Discovered by scientists in the Canadian Arctic and later adopted, a group of speechless but intense and powerful teens compel their older siblings to return them to that site a decade and a half later.
With their scientist parents in Ecuador, Lorna, 17, is responsible for her sister, Callie, an Arctic Recovery Orphan. Constructing an ingenious model of their destination (à la Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind), Callie persuades Lorna to take her there. Lorna and Stan, whose ARO brother is similarly obsessed, shoulder the task. Packing snacks, warm clothes, and phone charger, the four leave Pennsylvania—guided by the AROs (Lorna names them Icelings)—and head northeast, meeting and joining with other sibling groups along the way. At a police checkpoint, only those traveling with AROs are permitted to cross into Canada. One driver, Bobby, might know what’s at stake, but he’s not sharing. Lorna, Stan, and the rest, mystified but loyal, follow their siblings’ leads. Readers will be equally confused: by the strange geography (Meat Cove, Nova Scotia, is nowhere near the Arctic) and confusing, contradictory plot. Long interior monologues fail to explain Lorna’s senseless—at times, risibly so—choices. Otherworldly discoveries are rendered in mundane imagery, while the identically pale, light-eyed, fair-haired Icelings suggest pallid takes on John Wyndham’s The Midwich Cuckoos (1957) and its comic-book and video game progeny. Narrator Lorna indicates no racial distinction between her and her sister, leading readers to believe she is white.
Faced with the inconsistent plotting, indifference to geography and climate, and sloppy execution, readers are more likely to abandon this series opener halfway than to wait for Volume 2. (Science fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Dec. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-59514-769-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2016
Share your opinion of this book
by Rae Carson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2011
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
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 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
Share your opinion of this book
More In The Series
More by Rae Carson
BOOK REVIEW
by Rae Carson
BOOK REVIEW
by Rae Carson
BOOK REVIEW
by Rae Carson
by Alice Oseman ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 28, 2017
A smart, timely outing.
Two teens connect through a mysterious podcast in this sophomore effort by British author Oseman (Solitaire, 2015).
Frances Janvier is a 17-year-old British-Ethiopian head girl who is so driven to get into Cambridge that she mostly forgoes friendships for schoolwork. Her only self-indulgence is listening to and creating fan art for the podcast Universe City, “a…show about a suit-wearing student detective looking for a way to escape a sci-fi, monster-infested university.” Aled Last is a quiet white boy who identifies as “partly asexual.” When Frances discovers that Aled is the secret creator of Universe City, the two embark on a passionate, platonic relationship based on their joint love of pop culture. Their bond is complicated by Aled’s controlling mother and by Frances’ previous crush on Aled’s twin sister, Carys, who ran away last year and disappeared. When Aled’s identity is accidently leaked to the Universe City fandom, he severs his relationship with Frances, leaving her questioning her Cambridge goals and determined to win back his affection, no matter what the cost. Frances’ narration is keenly intelligent; she takes mordant pleasure in using an Indian friend’s ID to get into a club despite the fact they look nothing alike: “Gotta love white people.” Though the social-media–suffused plot occasionally lags, the main characters’ realistic relationship accurately depicts current issues of gender, race, and class.
A smart, timely outing. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: March 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-233571-5
Page Count: 496
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
Share your opinion of this book
More by Alice Oseman
BOOK REVIEW
by Alice Oseman ; illustrated by Alice Oseman
BOOK REVIEW
by Alice Oseman ; illustrated by Alice Oseman
BOOK REVIEW
by Alice Oseman
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.