by Thomas Locke ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 2017
Harry Potter and Star Wars tossed in a blender: it’s not particularly fresh or innovative, but it’s a passable enough...
Twins Dillon and Sean discover their childhood fantasy of an otherworldly train station is reality and their gateway to a new life in a galactic civilization.
The 17-year-old Raleigh-Durham white boys have been drawing the station for 10 years. When Col. Carver, a battle-scarred, brown-skinned new neighbor, shows them how to travel there using a magical force within themselves, the duo’s eager to pass his tests and train to use their powers. However, Earth’s a seldom-visited outpost planet in the Human Assembly; and the test administrator, a black man named Tirian, is set against their passing any tests. Although the boys are attacked twice by inimical forces, Carver and his superiors don’t believe the boys’ account of events because of what it means to interplanetary peace; they blame Tirian, who becomes a wanted man. Though the boys are much older and more powerful than the other students, they enter the school formerly administered by Tirian to train, prove their story, and clear their former adversary’s name. Though marketed as sci-fi, Locke’s trilogy-starter is more fantasy the likes of the early Pern novels by Anne McCaffrey. Science is supplanted by a magical faith/force (though the faith is not necessarily Christian). Though the plot is slow and logically muddy at times, the twins’ banter feels real, and these sparks carry the tale of good vs. evil to a successful, if a bit anticlimactic, close.
Harry Potter and Star Wars tossed in a blender: it’s not particularly fresh or innovative, but it’s a passable enough second-tier purchase. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8007-2789-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Revell
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Share your opinion of this book
by Holly Black ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 8, 2019
A rare second volume that surpasses the first, with, happily, more intrigue and passion still to come.
A heady blend of courtly double-crossing, Faerie lore, and toxic attraction swirls together in the sequel to The Cruel Prince (2018).
Five months after engineering a coup, human teen Jude is starting to feel the strain of secretly controlling King Cardan and running his Faerie kingdom. Jude’s self-loathing and anger at the traumatic events of her childhood (her Faerie “dad” killed her parents, and Faerie is not a particularly easy place even for the best-adjusted human) drive her ambition, which is tempered by her desire to make the world she loves and hates a little fairer. Much of the story revolves around plotting (the Queen of the Undersea wants the throne; Jude’s Faerie father wants power; Jude’s twin, Taryn, wants her Faerie betrothed by her side), but the underlying tension—sexual and political—between Jude and Cardan also takes some unexpected twists. Black’s writing is both contemporary and classic; her world is, at this point, intensely well-realized, so that some plot twists seem almost inevitable. Faerie is a strange place where immortal, multihued, multiformed denizens can’t lie but can twist everything; Jude—who can lie—is an outlier, and her first-person, present-tense narration reveals more than she would choose. With curly dark brown hair, Jude and Taryn are never identified by race in human terms.
A rare second volume that surpasses the first, with, happily, more intrigue and passion still to come. (map) (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-316-31035-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2018
Share your opinion of this book
More In The Series
by Holly Black ; illustrated by Rovina Cai
More by Holly Black
BOOK REVIEW
by Holly Black & Kaliis Smith ; illustrated by Ebony Glenn
BOOK REVIEW
by Holly Black
BOOK REVIEW
by Holly Black
by Tomi Adeyemi ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 6, 2018
Powerful, captivating, and raw—Adeyemi is a talent to watch. Exceptional.
Awards & Accolades
Our Verdict
GET IT
Kirkus Reviews'
Best Books Of 2018
Kirkus Prize
finalist
New York Times Bestseller
Seventeen-year-old Zélie and companions journey to a mythic island seeking a chance to bring back magic to the land of Orïsha, in a fantasy world infused with the textures of West Africa.
Dark-skinned Zélie is a divîner—someone with latent magical abilities indicated by the distinctive white hair that sets them apart from their countrymen. She saves Princess Amari, who is on the run from her father, King Saran, after stealing the scroll that can transform divîners into magic-wielding maji, and the two flee along with Zélie’s brother. The scroll vanished 11 years ago during the king’s maji genocide, and Prince Inan, Amari’s brother, is sent in hot pursuit. When the trio learns that the impending solstice offers the only chance of restoring magic through a connection to Nana Baruku, the maternal creator deity, they race against time—and Inan—to obtain the final artifact needed for their ritual. Over the course of the book allegiances shift and characters grow, change, and confront traumas culminating in a cliffhanger ending that will leave readers anxiously awaiting the next installment. Well-drawn characters, an intense plot, and deft writing make this a strong story. That it is also a timely study on race, colorism, power, and injustice makes it great.
Powerful, captivating, and raw—Adeyemi is a talent to watch. Exceptional. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-17097-2
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
Share your opinion of this book
More In The Series
More by Tomi Adeyemi
BOOK REVIEW
by Tomi Adeyemi
More About This Book
PROFILES
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
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.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.