A creative, if unevenly written, piece of new-adult escapism for devotees of the dark realms.
An 18-year-old battles paranormal fiends in Atwood’s all-action YA debut.
Kacey Alexander lives in Woodland Falls, a once-happy city, now taken over by Olympus Security and run as a criminal enterprise. On her 18th birthday, she inherits a mysterious chest from her mother. It’s been four years since Kacey’s mom died, and although she’s tried to follow in her parent’s adventurous footsteps, she certainly isn’t expecting what’s inside the chest: knives and an illustrated journal. Meanwhile, Kacey’s best friend, Aidan, owns up to his ability to wield magic powers (as well as his longtime crush on Kacey); and as a further birthday surprise, the journal reveals that Kacey was born with the powers of a Mage, which were suppressed while she was a child but now are about to come into full effect. Kacey is shocked by these discoveries, but she puts them aside long enough to go and celebrate her birthday—only to come face to fang with her first vampire and thrown headlong into the brutal, if sometimes-beautiful, world of magic-wielding Sentinels. Conflicts between characters flare up without warning and settle down just as abruptly; Kacey’s first-person narration evinces these mood shifts, but her use of generic similes (“glowing like the embers of a dying fire”; “his green eyes shone like emeralds”) will dishearten readers who thrive on more vigorous prose. Still, there’s much else to like in Atwood’s imaginings. The paranormal elements have been thought out in depth, and they could easily form the basis for a TV series in the vein of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There’s a likable supporting cast, each with a back story and narrative potential, while Kacey herself is a sassy but socially responsible high school graduate who banters as well as she fights. The book may particularly appeal to fans of graphic novels looking for something more substantive. Overall, Atwood shows an unwavering devotion to kick-ass action and taking a stand against corporate (and inhuman) bad guys.
A creative, if unevenly written, piece of new-adult escapism for devotees of the dark realms.Pub Date: July 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61296-725-7
Page Count: 238
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s...
The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.
The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene “Jo” Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She’s served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael’s increasing emotional distance. Jo’s mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo’s confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael’s earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart.
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-312-57720-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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