A thoughtful and empowering hero’s journey.
A young man journeys through a new world to rescue a friend in need.
Nineteen-year-old Ollie Delgato floats through life untethered as an orphaned son from an abusive household, a fat young man who believes himself unlovable and who’s working a food-service job in Boston to make ends meet as he waits for community college to start. When his friend Nell goes missing, Ollie’s worry about her well-being leads him to the Neath, a magical, mysterious underworld originally created by witches to protect and hide survivors of abuse. Before long, Ollie makes friends and foes; among his allies is Tera, a budding painter, but his time is running out because visitors to the Neath only have a few days there before their lungs mutate and they are unable to leave. Something is rotten at the Neath’s core, and what began as Ollie’s earnest search for a friend turns into a quest for survival, justice, and acceptance. Blanchet’s debut is the first in a promising trilogy that examines the line between setting things right and exacting revenge in surprising ways. Set in a whimsical underworld full of dangers and wonders, this coming-of-age story develops Ollie’s sense of community and belonging while his internalized fatphobia, white-knight complex, and sense of self-worth are thoughtfully explored, questioned, and subverted. Ollie is cued as White; Tera has brown skin.
A thoughtful and empowering hero’s journey. (Fantasy. 15-adult)Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-946501-41-7
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Tiny Fox Press
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and...
A deliciously creepy page-turning gem from first-time writer and illustrator Brosgol finds brooding teenager Anya trying to escape the past—both her own and the ghost haunting her.
Anya feels out of place at her preppy private school; embarrassed by her Russian heritage, she has worked hard to lose her accent and to look more like everyone else. After a particularly frustrating morning at the bus stop, Anya storms off, only to accidentally fall down a well. Down in the dark hole, she meets Emily, a ghost who claims to be a murder victim trapped down in the dank abyss for 90 years. With Emily’s help, Anya manages to escape, though once free, she learns that Emily has traveled out with her. At first, Emily seems like the perfect friend; however, once her motives become clear, Anya learns that “perfect” may only be an illusion. A moodily atmospheric spectrum of grays washes over the clean, tidy panels, setting a distinct stage before the first words appear. Brosgol’s tight storytelling invokes the chilling feeling of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline (2002), though for a decidedly older set.
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and outward appearance. (Graphic supernatural fiction. 12 & up)Pub Date: June 7, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59643-552-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
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
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