Frequently baffling and uneven; only for readers already invested in Lucky.
Following The Culling (2013), Recruit-turned–Imposer trainee Lucian “Lucky” Spark observes the Trials, a yearly competition in which horror-movie–esque situations determine which competitor’s loved one dies; his position may be new, but it is still potentially deadly.
Lucky takes advantage of his new, privileged position as Trials winner to gain access to munitions and locations for sabotage and terrorist attacks against the regime he serves. Still a guileless hero, Lucky isn’t the stealthiest insurgent—his primary antagonist, Cassius, sees through him, and he runs afoul of the organized resistance. After straightening things out, they send him to assassinate Cassius and the prime minister, but when the time comes, a terrible, surprising choice botches the mission (as in the first book, choices again are a major theme). As punishment, Cassius sends Lucky and his fellow Imposer trainees back to the Trials—this time as Incentives who will be killed if their Recruit places last in a contest. Lucky must find a way to escape and save as many fellow hostages as possible. Although the prose revels in gore, readers are spared psychological horror, as most imperiled characters lack necessary development for emotional attachment. In the final act, a series of double crosses (and even triple crosses) and plot twists comes so fast readers won’t have time to ponder implications and motivations.
Frequently baffling and uneven; only for readers already invested in Lucky. (Science fiction. 13-16)Pub Date: March 8, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7387-3540-5
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Flux
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
At her father’s funeral during a sweltering Utah summer in the not-so-distant future, Kelsa Phillips rages against her mother, the funeral and her father’s dying in a hospice. So when she meets a shape-shifter named Raven, she (rashly) accompanies him on a road trip through Canada to release knots in the magical veins of energy under the earth to save the world from eco-disaster. But this is a different United States from ours: The authorities have put in place a grid system of movement control in which the only people who can move from state to state are those with valid identification cards. The pair joust with each other, neither trusting the other with vital information even as disaster looms. Plot drives this book from the start to the rousing climax and surprise resolution. Humor will engage readers’ interest while the ever-increasing suspense will keep it. The worldbuilding is scant; it’s a pity Bell didn’t incorporate more detail about the future United States to make it more convincing. Enough threads are left dangling at the end to ensure a sequel (Traitor’s Boy, scheduled for spring 2012), so perhaps it will be fleshed out there. (Fantasy. 13-16)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-19620-6
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2010
Nasty Prince Henry of the Seelie Court has come to Avalon, the city caught between the human realm and Faerie, to invite...
At last, Dana meets a Fae boy who doesn't want to sleep with her in this third in the Faeriewalker series, which began with Glimmerglass (2010).
Nasty Prince Henry of the Seelie Court has come to Avalon, the city caught between the human realm and Faerie, to invite half-human Dana to be formally presented at Court. Dana and her father are sure there's a deeper game at play—don't both Fae queens want Dana dead because of her dangerous Faeriewalker powers?—but she has no choice but to obey the summons. The journey from the incongruously modern Avalon (why do Faeries celebrate Christmas?) to the Seelie Court is chock-full of all the necessary adventures, from monster attacks to opportunities for heroic self-sacrifice. Dana finally exercises both her magical powers and her intelligence in order to help herself and her friends. And of course, there's plenty of opportunity for chest thumping among her various suitors. Dana's youthful narrative style can be disconcertingly at odds with the steaminess she describes ("I was smushed up against him… [and] painfully aware that he, uh, enjoyed having me there"); this realistic teen heroine has an occasionally bumpy meeting with romance conventions. But Dana's grim-but-hopeful interactions with her alcoholic mother ground this urban fantasy in a welcome verisimilitude.Pub Date: July 5, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-312-57595-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
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