An enchanting romantic fantasy weaving together history, magic, and inspired resistance.
A teen bandit thrust into leadership of her clan fights for justice, dignity, and restoration of her people’s rights.
Orphaned at birth, adopted, and brought up by the leader of the Shadow Clan, Roshan’s innate healing powers take a back seat to guerilla raids for their survival. One such raid leads to the capture of Prince Navin, a gadabout royal second in line to the throne. The clan hopes to barter his freedom to stop crushing blood tithes and reclaim their land. Atrocities by the governors’ marauding army have turned once-fertile valleys into barren wastelands where villagers face starvation, violence, and displacement. While the prince tries to use his magic to secure his escape, the poverty and desperation he witnesses ignite a spark of awareness alongside growing attraction to his captor. The alternating voices of the prince and the rebel pit the power and corruption of the privileged against the hardship, steely determination, and hope of people fighting for their birthright. The evocative writing reveals a magical world of rugged landscapes, underground caverns, dark magic, political machinations, surprising plot twists, diverse peoples, and deeply seated prejudices that reflect contemporary times. While the quest for resolution takes a slightly naïve turn, the historical inspirations of real-life bandits and Indian and Persian mythology create a spellbinding fantasy.
An enchanting romantic fantasy weaving together history, magic, and inspired resistance. (glossary, author’s note) (Fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: May 23, 2023
ISBN: 9780374389116
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
A searing romance.
Two girls wounded by their past relationships grapple with the undeniable intensity of their feelings for one another in this novel based on the pop-star author’s popular song and music video.
Seventeen-year-old Coley, who is White and Japanese, braces for impact as a minivan hurtles toward her in a parking lot. The crash never comes, but in that moment, she and fierce Sonya, beautiful with her tan skin and dark hair and eyes, collide. Horrible circumstances brought Coley to small-town Oregon; after her mom’s suicide, she’s raw with grief and stuck living with the dad who abandoned her when she was 3. Wealthy, competitive dancer Sonya feels no less trapped. Afraid of rejection and loneliness, she buries her true self to appease her perfectionist mother and the demanding ex-boyfriend who refuses to let her go. Unspoken attraction pulls Coley and Sonya together, but the masks they wear to protect themselves from their pain create a barrier that may keep them apart. Set in the summer of 2006, the novel alternates Sonya’s public and private LiveJournal posts that reveal her side of the story with Coley’s first-person narration. Sharp, poetic prose heightens the emotional and romantic drama. References to early 2000s pop and alternative music in Sonya’s posts create a playlist that sheds more light on her feelings. Coley demonstrates satisfying character growth as she opens up to herself and others. Apart from Coley, most characters are presumed White.
A searing romance. (content note) (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: May 30, 2023
ISBN: 9781250817631
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
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