A slow-building tale of deception and struggle against societal bounds.
A young woman intent on a position in her father’s law firm plays sleuth in this mystery reworking of Pride and Prejudice.
When Charles Bingley, head of a local shipping firm, is accused of the murder of his brother-in-law, George Hurst, Lizzie Bennet inserts herself in the case in an effort to prove her worth beyond her potential success in securing a respectable marriage. Mr. Darcy, Wickham, Mr. Collins, Jane, Charlotte, and the extensive cast of source characters all appear here, altered and with different roles though generally retaining their personalities and idiosyncrasies. Readers familiar with Jane Austen’s work will get the most from this novel, but even for those who aren’t, the book stands on its own as a solid, if at times plodding, whodunit. Though not a modernization, there are modern sensibilities at play, discussed by Price in an author’s note and expressed in passages about class and sex roles that are much more expository than the original. This style of telling rather than showing extends across Lizzy’s relationships with both Wickham and Darcy, though descriptions of the former are also happily peppered with dryly witty dialogue. Most characters are White; Charlotte is biracial, with a White father and Black mother from the West Indies.
A slow-building tale of deception and struggle against societal bounds. (Mystery. 12-18)Pub Date: March 9, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-288980-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An unwieldy but emotionally intense fantasy.
In the Riew siblings’ debut, inspired by their Korean grandparents’ experiences during Japan’s early-20th-century colonization of Korea, a hunt is on for the last surviving tiger.
In the Tiger Colonies, this fantasy world’s version of occupied Korea, tigers have been nearly wiped out by the Dragon Empire. These oppressive rulers believe that tiger ki, or powers, strengthen the Tiger people, and therefore, the animals must be exterminated. Lee Seung, who’s from a poor Tiger family, works for the wealthy Chois, a Tiger family who collaborate with the Dragons. Choi Eunji might live in material comfort, but her home feels like “a cage” thanks to her parents’ high expectations and control of her every move. She offers to tutor Seung for the Adachi Training Academy’s entrance exam; graduates attain elite, powerful positions. In return he’ll help Eunji experience life outside her cloistered manor. Despite their class differences, both teens long for freedom, but Seung fails the exam, and their paths diverge. They reunite during a frantic search for the last tiger—but are their motivations aligned? Some plot developments feel contrived, and the introduction of real historical elements at times feels deliberately educational rather than naturally emerging from the story. Nevertheless, the story vividly highlights the plight of Koreans during a traumatic era.
An unwieldy but emotionally intense fantasy. (authors’ note, diary excerpts) (Fantasy. 12-18)Pub Date: July 29, 2025
ISBN: 9798217002047
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Kokila
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
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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