A worldbuilding adventure fully firing on all cylinders.
In this first installment of Cotta’s steampunk series, an enterprising newcomer teams up with a group of misfits to uncover a ghastly secret.
Talented 16-year-old Aaren Lockett arrives on the hardscrabble streets of Rexanberg determined to set up shop as a successful tinker, capable of fixing anything the city’s inhabitants need repaired. Things quickly go awry for the orphaned youth, however, when he ends up on the wrong side of a gun while attempting to rescue a beguiling young creature from the wrath of a vengeful “Hoch” (member of the penthouse-dwelling ruling class), Ryszard. It’s a Hoch’s world here in bustling Rexanberg, and Aaren and his working-class ilk are just living in it. Even worse, as Aaren soon learns, the parasitic Hochs—dependent on the “healing genie[s]” indentured to them—decide to take their exploitation to shockingly new lows. The only thing standing in their way is the spirit-repairing “Heartsmith,” and as Cotta’s careful scripting makes abundantly clear, even his courage might not be enough to save the day. Rife with reanimated corpses, severed limbs, and burnt flesh, the tone of this fast-moving adventure nevertheless remains remarkably light and even bubbly. The protagonist is an intriguing character; virtuous and full of industry, he’s far from a Pollyanna, with an outward demeanor akin to Harrison Ford’s wry and self-effacing Indiana Jones. (Sasha, a spunky newspaper gal determined to locate her missing brother, soon becomes enamored with the romantically-challenged Aaren in spite of all his crustiness.) Much of the levity and pathos come from the often-comical exchanges between Aaren and the Tinker Bell–like sprite who literally takes up residence inside Aaren’s heart following his unfortunate encounter with Hoch Ryszard. “‘Maybe wishes are like dreams, then,’ Aaren mused, staring across the expanse. ‘For ’em to come true, you must be persistent, like a ticking clock, always moving toward the next hour, never stalling, ’cause you never know at what time your wish may come true.’” Like Aaren’s astonishing inventions, Cotta’s steampunk tale works in many surprising and wonderful ways.
A worldbuilding adventure fully firing on all cylinders.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781957656700
Page Count: 284
Publisher: Monarch Educational Services, L.L.C.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Riveting, brutal and beautifully told.
A devastating tale of greed and secrets springs from the summer that tore Cady’s life apart.
Cady Sinclair’s family uses its inherited wealth to ensure that each successive generation is blond, beautiful and powerful. Reunited each summer by the family patriarch on his private island, his three adult daughters and various grandchildren lead charmed, fairy-tale lives (an idea reinforced by the periodic inclusions of Cady’s reworkings of fairy tales to tell the Sinclair family story). But this is no sanitized, modern Disney fairy tale; this is Cinderella with her stepsisters’ slashed heels in bloody glass slippers. Cady’s fairy-tale retellings are dark, as is the personal tragedy that has led to her examination of the skeletons in the Sinclair castle’s closets; its rent turns out to be extracted in personal sacrifices. Brilliantly, Lockhart resists simply crucifying the Sinclairs, which might make the family’s foreshadowed tragedy predictable or even satisfying. Instead, she humanizes them (and their painful contradictions) by including nostalgic images that showcase the love shared among Cady, her two cousins closest in age, and Gat, the Heathcliff-esque figure she has always loved. Though increasingly disenchanted with the Sinclair legacy of self-absorption, the four believe family redemption is possible—if they have the courage to act. Their sincere hopes and foolish naïveté make the teens’ desperate, grand gesture all that much more tragic.
Riveting, brutal and beautifully told. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: May 13, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-385-74126-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2014
PROFILES
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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