A familiar but smart fantasy with a feminist orientation.
A girl who bucks the system gets more than she bargained for in this YA fantasy.
In the walled city of Spiregarden, girls are required by law to enter a maidenhouse once they reach puberty. There, they learn the womanly arts of cooking, cleaning, and entertaining, awaiting the day they will be matched to husbands. For the fiercely independent Kardin, life in Bellaro Maidenhouse is like a prison sentence. She sneaks out whenever she can—a serious breach of the rules. It isn’t long before Kardin is in danger of being deemed “unmatchable,” a designation that means banishment to the Sisterhood in a remote Cell beyond the walls. Enter the similarly hardheaded Cmdr. Lef, an officer in the Foxcombe, an elite fighting force charged with protecting Spiregarden from the monsters that stalk the world beyond its walls. Lef doesn’t want a wife—but he sees Kardin’s potential as a soldier. Everyone knows that neylon—as the monsters are called—are attracted to maidens. The entire society of Spiregarden is built around keeping them safe. To that end, the Foxcombe now needs to send a maiden operative out beyond the walls—and Kardin is that maiden. She’s finally escaped the life she never wanted, and she’s been given a level of freedom she’s always dreamed of. The only question is: Will she survive it? In this series opener, Kennedy’s prose is urgent and pulsing, tied closely to the emotions of her characters. Here Kardin processes the offer to join the Foxcombe: “Her heart raced with joy at evading the Cell, at achieving a childhood dream that had always been denied to her. Her mind, however, raced just as hard with terror. Every horror story of neylon she had ever been told or read cascaded through her mind like the horror scape of a nightmare.” The premise is familiar territory in many ways, combining tropes from dystopian YA with a heavy dash of Game of Thrones. That said, the author’s version is well crafted and more explicitly concerned with questioning traditional gender roles. The novel is a quick, satisfying read, and the audience will be excited to see what directions Kennedy pursues in future volumes.
A familiar but smart fantasy with a feminist orientation.Pub Date: Dec. 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73408-962-2
Page Count: 269
Publisher: Bowker
Review Posted Online: Feb. 20, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Only marginally intriguing.
In a remote part of Utah, in a “temple of excellence,” the best of the best are recruited to nurture their talents.
Redemption Preparatory is a cross between the Vatican and a top-secret research facility: The school is rooted in Christian ideology (but very few students are Christian), Mass is compulsory, cameras capture everything, and “maintenance” workers carry Tasers. When talented poet Emma disappears, three students, distrusting of the school administration, launch their own investigation. Brilliant chemist Neesha believes Emma has run away to avoid taking the heat for the duo’s illegal drug enterprise. Her boyfriend, an athlete called Aiden, naturally wants to find her. Evan, a chess prodigy who relies on patterns and has difficulty processing social signals, believes he knows Emma better than anyone. While the school is an insidious character on its own and the big reveal is slightly psychologically disturbing, Evan’s positioning as a tragic hero with an uncertain fate—which is connected to his stalking of Emma (even before her disappearance)—is far more unsettling. The ’90s setting provides the backdrop for tongue-in-cheek technological references but doesn’t do anything for the plot. Student testimonials and voice-to-text transcripts punctuate the three-way third-person narration that alternates among Neesha, Evan, and Aiden. Emma, Aiden, and Evan are assumed to be white; Neesha is Indian. Students are from all over the world, including Asia and the Middle East.
Only marginally intriguing. (Mystery. 15-18)Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-266203-3
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A thrilling romance that could use more even pacing.
For the second time in her life, Leo must choose between her family and true love.
Nineteen-year-old Princess Leonie Kolburg’s royal family is bankrupt. In order to salvage the fortune they accrued before humans fled the frozen Earth 170 years ago, Leonie’s father is forcing her to participate in the Valg Season, an elaborate set of matchmaking events held to facilitate the marriages of rich and royal teens. Leo grudgingly joins in even though she has other ideas: She’s invented a water filtration system that, if patented, could provide a steady income—that is if Leo’s calculating Aunt Freja, the Captain of the ship hosting the festivities, stops blocking her at every turn. Just as Leo is about to give up hope, her long-lost love, Elliot, suddenly appears onboard three years after Leo’s family forced her to break off their engagement. Donne (Brightly Burning, 2018) returns to space, this time examining the fascinatingly twisted world of the rich and famous. Leo and her peers are nuanced, deeply felt, and diverse in terms of sexuality but not race, which may be a function of the realities of wealth and power. The plot is fast paced although somewhat uneven: Most of the action resolves in the last quarter of the book, which makes the resolutions to drawn-out conflicts feel rushed.
A thrilling romance that could use more even pacing. (Science fiction. 16-adult)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-328-94894-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
