A provocative novel of a society riven by subterfuge and zealotry
Religion and science clash in a post-apocalyptic adventure.
Brothers Clive, 18, and Clover, 16, accompany their father, a traveling minister for the Descendancy, to the hinterlands. An encounter with people hiding “the anathema”—technology—leads to tragedy and death. What’s left of the band travels home to the Anchor. Clover returns to his studies in the Library, the repository of all of humankind’s knowledge from before the great Conflagration. Clive joins the church’s Protectorate in a holy war against a scientific academy called Sophia and a tribe of women warriors. Wallach builds a plausible world with richly evocative descriptions of action: “And now the two silhouettes reappeared….One of them unfurled to human height and began hurtling pell-mell for the pumphouse, like an angry piece of night.” But while individual scenes and characters come to life in beautiful writing that will send some readers to the dictionary (“She escaped into the fresh night air, into the tranquil chaos of the sylvan biome: arrhythmic clicking of crickets, plangent hoots of owls”), the real challenge of this series opener is its structure of multiple storylines. The rather thin main plot is likely to be expanded in future volumes, but here it’s framed by a tantalizingly brief prologue, interlude, and epilogue, each with its own cast of characters. There are few indications as to the racial and ethnic makeup of this future American West save the occasional Spanish name sprinkled among the mostly English ones.
A provocative novel of a society riven by subterfuge and zealotry . (Science fiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-6838-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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
Raw, delicate, and deeply caring.
When Death-Cast doesn’t call, fate intertwines the lives of two boys, both haunted by their pasts and with futures they can’t escape.
In this third installment of the series that opened with 2017’s They Both Die at the End, Paz Dario waits every night for Death-Cast to call—as it should have for his father nearly 10 years ago, when Paz shot him to save his mother’s life. But the call never comes. Death-Cast killed Paz’s dreams of an acting career: No one will hire him now because the world sees him as a villain. When Paz tries (not for the first time) to put an end to his suffering, an unexpected encounter with Alano Rosa, the heir of Death-Cast, stops him. Both in a place of desperation, Alano and Paz sign a contract to live for Begin Days instead of waiting for their End Days. As suspenseful and emotionally wrenching as the previous titles in the series, this new installment explores heavy themes of abuse, mental health, self-harm, and suicide. Paz grapples with a recent diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Silvera surrounds Alano and Paz with a web of complex relationships. Although the protagonists fall fast for one another and form a deep connection over Alano’s desire to support Paz, Silvera emphasizes the importance of professional help. Both Alano and Paz have Puerto Rican heritage. The cliffhanger ending promises more to come.
Raw, delicate, and deeply caring. (content warning, resources) (Speculative fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780063240858
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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