Printz Award honoree Cokal (The Kingdom of Little Wounds, 2013, etc.) switches from historical fiction to historical fantasy in this loose reinterpretation of Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid.”
The Thirty-Seven Dark Islands, remote and Scandinavian, are prosperous and bustling. Ruled by the (uncannily) long-lived Baroness Thyrla, watched over by Our Lady of the Sea, an ostensibly Christian statue, this is a place where little changes until a mysterious girl comes ashore. Half-seavish Sanna has grown up a marreminde but longs to find her landish mother. She studied magic in order to form legs and search the land, directed by her flok’s ancient witch. Literary writing stuffed with interesting if ancillary historical detail moves through several perspectives. Sanna, despite her strong magic and the narrative’s centering of her quest for her mother, tends toward immense passivity; Thyrla, a wicked witch who has killed her own children to prolong her life, propels most of the plot, such as it is, and more time is spent in characters’ heads than with their actions or interactions. Questions of power, vanity, and faith are raised, if not always resolved, making this a book suitable for deep reading although unlikely to have wide appeal. Other options trawl similar territory more effectively, particularly Elana K. Arnold’s Damsel (2018) and Margo Lanagan’s The Brides of Rollrock Island (2012). All characters are white; the mermaid society is bisexual by default.
Intriguing if flawed. (historical note) (Historical fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0959-4
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
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Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in.
14
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Black is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy.
Jude—broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness—has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others. Fierce and observant Jude is utterly unaware of the currents that swirl around her. She fights, plots, even murders enemies, but she must also navigate her relationship with her complex family (human, Faerie, and mixed). This is a heady blend of Faerie lore, high fantasy, and high school drama, dripping with description that brings the dangerous but tempting world of Faerie to life.
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-31027-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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Cracking page-turner with a multiethnic band of misfits with differing sexual orientations who satisfyingly, believably jell...
12
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Adolescent criminals seek the haul of a lifetime in a fantasyland at the beginning of its industrial age.
The dangerous city of Ketterdam is governed by the Merchant Council, but in reality, large sectors of the city are given over to gangs who run the gambling dens and brothels. The underworld's rising star is 17-year-old Kaz Brekker, known as Dirtyhands for his brutal amorality. Kaz walks with chronic pain from an old injury, but that doesn't stop him from utterly destroying any rivals. When a councilman offers him an unimaginable reward to rescue a kidnapped foreign chemist—30 million kruge!—Kaz knows just the team he needs to assemble. There's Inej, an itinerant acrobat captured by slavers and sold to a brothel, now a spy for Kaz; the Grisha Nina, with the magical ability to calm and heal; Matthias the zealot, hunter of Grishas and caught in a hopeless spiral of love and vengeance with Nina; Wylan, the privileged boy with an engineer's skills; and Jesper, a sharpshooter who keeps flirting with Wylan. Bardugo broadens the universe she created in the Grisha Trilogy, sending her protagonists around countries that resemble post-Renaissance northern Europe, where technology develops in concert with the magic that's both coveted and despised. It’s a highly successful venture, leaving enough open questions to cause readers to eagerly await Volume 2.
Cracking page-turner with a multiethnic band of misfits with differing sexual orientations who satisfyingly, believably jell into a family . (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62779-212-7
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
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