A classic SF trope, well rendered.
Jacobs and Birnbach’s YA time-traveling adventure combines SF and elements of classic caper and heist stories.
Tori is a normal teenager thrust into the middle of her parents’ ongoing divorce. Adding to the trauma, it just so happens to be the dawn of the Covid-19 pandemic, too. As Tori’s entire routine is upended by the divorce and the outbreak, she is forced to ride the crisis out in both New York City and the Boston area (where she’ll be moving with her mother), two places in near-lockdown. While packing her things for the big move, Tori answers a phone call from a New York Times reporter—the strangely named “Tobias Guildersleeve”—looking for Tori’s father. Eavesdropping, she soon discovers a family secret: Her grandfather, a once-successful jeweler named Victor Gold, was caught stealing one of the world’s most precious gems, the “Desert Sun.” He served time for the heist, and the resulting fallout tore her father’s family asunder. Shortly after the call from the reporter, Tori mysteriously awakens in her own room, but not in her own time. She’s been taken all the way back to March 1980, where she meets a teen named Bobby. As if this weren’t trippy enough, she knows this Bobby—it’s her father as an adolescent. In order to save her father’s future (and therefore her own), she must work with him, facing the peril of highly dangerous criminals to recover the Desert Sun and set things right for her family. Fans of classic time-travel narratives will find much to love here. Though the concept of going back into the past to meet younger versions of family members has been done, Jacobs and Birnbach’s characters are distinctive enough to keep this work feeling fresh. Tori’s unique humor—she refers to summer camp as “New York with mosquitoes”—and the author’s smooth prose make this solid, lighter SF yarn a delight.
A classic SF trope, well rendered.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
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
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