A chaotic and unpolished fantasy effort.
A pair of rival magicians fall for the same girl in Kouam’s debut YA fantasy novel.
Seventeen-year-old Hero may look human, but he’s not; he’s a supernatural being called a tiger magician. Unbeknownst to humans, all supernatural beings are intent on destroying humanity due to an atrocity that people committed against them over a century ago. After a civil war in the tiger realm, Hero and his rival, Prince, decide to renew their conflict with humans by crossing over into the human realm. Once there, Prince is almost struck by a car but is saved at the last minute by a human woman named Angel. Prince later tells Hero that Angel is special: She “has a smell that is different from the smell of the race of natural human beings.” Prince quickly develops romantic feelings for Angel while Hero starts a relationship with her friend Bella—although though there’s some apparent chemistry between Angel and Hero, as well. A love triangle ensues between Hero, Prince, and Angel, distracting both supernatural beings from their mission. It seems inevitable that, when Angel is threatened, one of the heroes will end up betraying his people. Although the book essentially feels likes a Twilight knockoff—there’s even a character named Bella—Kouam demonstrates a good deal of imagination in the mythology surrounding the supernatural beings. However, the book is seriously hampered by the quality of the prose, which can border on unreadable: “The supernatural beings were the creatures who had the phantoms called again ghosts, and their ghosts were the animals who they were, and the supernatural beings born with ten senses and with a lot of abilities, and their language was Latin.” Readers should be able to suss out the key facts, but it’s not an enjoyable task, and the picture that Kouam finally paints feels only half finished. The fictional world lacks detail and the characters lack depth, and the end result is a reading experience that’s disappointingly unmagical.
A chaotic and unpolished fantasy effort.Pub Date: May 23, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5320-7479-0
Page Count: 324
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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