An immersive, dazzling installment that journeys to new heights.
Frey infiltrates Shreve to rescue a friend and discovers more than she bargained for in this sequel to Shatter City (2019).
She and Col have undergone camo-surge, a full-body operation to hide their identities from the surveillance dust. Even though her twin sister, Rafi, is against the mission, Frey is determined to rescue her friend Boss X because she killed Seanan, who happened to be both his lover and the twins' brother. Now Frey navigates Shreve at the street level, uncovering secrets: A privateer gives her eyeglasses that reveal thousands of hidden messages covering every surface in the city. Used by smugglers and treasonous citizens, they offer her a glimpse into Shreve’s underbelly. She digs deeper and soon uncovers new horrors her father has committed along with his plans to maintain control. As the action escalates, Frey is locked in a silent struggle with her sister—who isn’t aware of the free cities’ plans for Frey to eventually rule Shreve—while battling her own identity dysmorphia. To take down their father, Frey and Rafi must decide who they really are, no matter the cost. Frey’s time in Shreve reveals a richer, more fully realized world than before. Each meticulously choreographed action sequence sings, building to a crescendo when Frey is thrust into a shocking new reality. The book is set in an alternate future North America with a cast that is cued as multiethnic.
An immersive, dazzling installment that journeys to new heights. (Science fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: April 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-15158-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
A grand finale, presented with a touch light enough to buoy all the self-actualization. Also: giant space worms!
Hotshot pilot Spensa Nightshade completes her apotheosis in this series closer, as human rebels and their alien allies mount a climactic assault on the galactic empire.
Having progressed from eating rats to being a cytonic superwarrior, Spensa is bonded by ties of loyalty and lust to former Skyward Flight leader, now Defiant Defense Force admiral, Jorgen—and also to a traumatized, planet-killing, interdimensional delver named Chet. Spensa would be well on her way to full-blown pacifism if the Superiority’s war of extermination against humans were not ramping up to a newly active phase. Nothing for it but a massive space battle, complete with dogfights, huge explosions, feints, betrayals, and tragic sacrifices…not to mention a swarm of ravenous, vacuum-dwelling vastworms eager to chow down on both sides. Though slowed by Spensa’s and others’ wrestling with conflicting impulses and weighing moral imperatives, the plot features more than enough large- and small-scale action set pieces to please space-opera fans. Better yet, the deliciously expansive cast includes not only humans and AIs but a broad array of aliens and semi-aliens from blue-skinned humanoids and a furry, haiku-reciting, fox-gerbil samurai with a (wait for it) laser sword to sentient crystals and empathic slugs. “The more different types of people we got into the flight, the stronger it would be,” Spensa reflects, and indeed, it’s collective action that proves decisive in the end.
A grand finale, presented with a touch light enough to buoy all the self-actualization. Also: giant space worms! (Science fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: Nov. 21, 2023
ISBN: 9780593309711
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Ideal for readers seeking perspectives on war, with a heavy dash of romance and touch of fantasy.
A war between gods plays havoc with mortals and their everyday lives.
In a time of typewriters and steam engines, Iris Winnow awaits word from her older brother, who has enlisted on the side of Enva the Skyward goddess. Alcohol abuse led to her mother’s losing her job, and Iris has dropped out of school and found work utilizing her writing skills at the Oath Gazette. Hiding the stress of her home issues behind a brave face, Iris competes for valuable assignments that may one day earn her the coveted columnist position. Her rival for the job is handsome and wealthy Roman Kitt, whose prose entrances her so much she avoids reading his articles. At home, she writes cathartic letters to her brother, never posting them but instead placing them in her wardrobe, where they vanish overnight. One day Iris receives a reply, which, along with other events, pushes her to make dramatic life decisions. Magic plays a quiet role in this story, and readers may for a time forget there is anything supernatural going on. This is more of a wartime tale of broken families, inspired youths, and higher powers using people as pawns. It flirts with clichéd tropes but also takes some startling turns. Main characters are assumed White; same-sex marriages and gender equality at the warfront appear to be the norm in this world.
Ideal for readers seeking perspectives on war, with a heavy dash of romance and touch of fantasy. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-85743-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
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