The dissection of a fractured friendship with a pretty fun post-mortem.
When death stops working, avoiding a dead ex–best friend becomes impossible.
Dino DeLuca and July Cooper were best friends. Then Dino started dating perfect—and perfectly handsome—Rafi Merza, and their duet dissolved, an end punctuated by July’s unexpected death. Kind of. As Dino is grieving privately by her corpse (the DeLuca’s have a funeral home), July wakes up from death as vocal as ever. Tandem with trying to keep her revenant status secret is analyzing why their once strong pact devolved into dislike. His answer: her jealousy. Her answer: his boyfriend. The truth: somewhere in the middle. Rafi is trans and has a group of friends diverse in ethnicity and sexual orientation who school brash, brassy July on sensitivities to marginalized people (her struggle with being labeled without nuance as “dead” lightheartedly mirrors that of the LGBTQ+ community). The quasi-linear overlap of Dino’s and July’s narratives demonstrates the difficulty in finding the reality between the two sides. Their voices (him: think the dry intellect of Juno circa 2007, her: the audience who rolled their eyes at Juno circa 2007) are as distinctly different as their perceived versions of the truth. Dino and July are both white, while Rafi is of Pakistani descent. The explanation of why deaths cease is underdeveloped but doesn’t stop this from being a decent romp. Unfortunately for Dino, Rafi outranks him in narrative allure.
The dissection of a fractured friendship with a pretty fun post-mortem. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4814-9857-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 6, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
Classic good-versus-evil fare.
A long-gone evil power threatens to once again rise and conquer all in its path.
In 1821 London, teenage Will mingles among the crowds on the docks of the Thames. He’s been on the run for months, ever since his mother was killed in their home. Finally, his pursuers catch up with him, and Will is taken in the name of the enigmatic Simon. Meanwhile, 16-year-old Violet wants nothing more than to join Simon’s inner crew. While guarding the hold during an attack on one of Simon’s boats, Violet discovers Will chained below deck. Afterward, the two find themselves under the protection of the Stewards, an ancient order whose sole mission is to prevent the very goal that Simon pursues—and both Will and Violet discover they have deep connections to this fight. What follows is a series of events that are by turns mystical, bewildering, hopeful, and terrifying. Pacat’s writing is atmospheric and full of intriguing, complex characters. However, an overwhelming sense of uncertainty pervades the book, intensified by the rotating points of view as well as the withholding of some characters’ major revelations until very late in the story. These factors leave readers in a state of perpetual unknowing, making it harder to connect with the story. The Stewards hail from all around the world; Will is White, and Violet is biracial, with a White English father and Indian mother.
Classic good-versus-evil fare. (map) (Historical fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 28, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-294614-0
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
All hail this worthier-than-ever, fresh, and affirming reincarnation of the legendary king and her round table of knights...
A girl with a sword and an impulse problem embarks on a perilous quest to save her family and free the galaxy from the clutches of a power-hungry corporation.
When Ari, an on-the-run refugee from planet Ketch, pulls Excalibur from a tree on Old Earth, she sets a centuries-old cycle into motion. By claiming the sword, she unknowingly attracts the enchantress Morgana and awakens the backward-aging magician Merlin, both of whom are doomed to an eternity of reliving the same story of King Arthur’s rise and fall. Honest to the core and averse to pageantry, Ari rejects her destiny as “the one true king” until she discovers her connection to the Arthur cycle may help her raise a resistance against the Mercer Company, who imprisoned her mothers and are threatening everyone Ari loves. In this intergalactic reimagining of Arthurian legend, a racially diverse queer and trans ensemble of characters leads the battle against the tyranny of capitalism. Capetta (The Brilliant Death, 2018, etc.) and McCarthy (Now a Major Motion Picture, 2018, etc.) develop complex conflicts on multiple fronts, including a passionate, whirlwind romance between Ari and her Gweneviere. The women in the story grow together through their challenges with one another and learn from their differences.
All hail this worthier-than-ever, fresh, and affirming reincarnation of the legendary king and her round table of knights which dazzles with heroic flair, humor, and suspense. (Science Fiction/Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: March 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-316-44927-4
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
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