Thoroughly clever and delightfully weird.
A spirited teen returns to a gasket universe—a protective pocket universe drawn from our collective unconscious—to unravel a mystery.
After a clever recap of the previous volume (in the form of the protagonist’s physics class puppet show presentation), Haley and Montague journey back through a portal into the universe of Willowweep. They discover an imperiled band of survivors whose own universe has imploded. Haley recognizes that this group, comprising a butler, a colonel, a spinster, a dog, a fop, and a “capable young lady,” are straight out of an English cozy mystery. As the new guests make themselves at home, Willowweep Manor begins to change, with various rooms appearing to suit its new inhabitants. When the colonel is found murdered, Haley and the crew know they cannot trust their guests, and when the original denizens of the manor begin to disappear, Haley must pivot from gothic heroine to detective. Can she suss out the murderer’s identity and save her beloved friends? Garrity’s sophomore offering is an utter delight, mashing up gothic and mystery tropes (plus a smattering of science fiction) through a metafiction lens in an alluring graphic format. Brown-skinned Haley, who wears her hair in cornrows, is both appealing and unforgettable in this story of belonging and found family. This series is both wildly inventive and compellingly quirky; expect readers to wail on the moors as they wait for new adventures. The supporting cast is diverse in skin tone.
Thoroughly clever and delightfully weird. (Graphic fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: Aug. 12, 2025
ISBN: 9781665930178
Page Count: 224
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play.
Garber returns to the world of bestseller Caraval (2017), this time with the focus on younger, more daring sister Donatella.
Valenda, capital of the empire, is host to the second of Legend’s magical games in a single year, and while Scarlett doesn’t want to play again, blonde Tella is eager for a chance to prove herself. She is haunted by the memory of her death in the last game and by the cursed Deck of Destiny she used as a child which foretold her loveless future. Garber has changed many of the rules of her expanding world, which now appears to be infused with magic and evil Fates. Despite a weak plot and ultraviolet prose (“He tasted like exquisite nightmares and stolen dreams, like the wings of fallen angels, and bottles of fresh moonlight.”), this is a tour de force of imagination. Themes of love, betrayal, and the price of magic (and desire) swirl like Caraval’s enchantments, and Dante’s sensuous kisses will thrill readers as much as they do Tella. The convoluted machinations of the Prince of Hearts (one of the Fates), Legend, and even the empress serve as the impetus for Tella’s story and set up future volumes which promise to go bigger. With descriptions focusing primarily on clothing, characters’ ethnicities are often indeterminate.
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play. (glossary) (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-09531-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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