The age-old battle between good and evil is fought in this swashbuckling feminist fantasy in which a courageous young woman saves the world from an evil phantom.
Davis Reign, a soldier and survivor of the apocalypse, kills the phantom’s host and, with his novice sorcerer friend Cassias, rebuilds the world. When his wife dies, Reign loses his power and dark magic returns to the land. It’s up to plucky 16-year-old Marianne Fitz to quell the rising powers of evil. Torn from her parents by Reign and left alone to care for her little brother, Newt, in the poor Link district, Marianne first encounters Reign’s son, her intimidating yet seductive adversary Crawford, when she is invited to the city for a coming-of-age ceremony. Using her incipient magical powers and her pronounced street-fighting talents, Marianne rescues her brother from the jail he is thrown in by Crawford’s henchmen, saves three maidens in peril, and helps to right the balance of good and evil in the world. Her true identity is finally revealed in the dramatic denouement. Marianne’s story is told in a fast-paced, engaging first-person narrative that moves skillfully between sympathy-evoking personal experience and broad-ranging, sometimes violent action. The city of Obanac and the surrounding landscape are evocatively portrayed, adding richness and depth to an otherwise mundane plot.
A medieval-inflected fantasy that will appeal to female action-hero aficionados. (bonus short story: “The Black Riders”) (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: June 11, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64397-071-4
Page Count: 208
Publisher: BHC Press
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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A gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.
Fifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting—plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers—escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel.
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes . (Science fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25675-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
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