Bennett presents the gloriously scandalous lives of Mary Godwin Shelley and the poet Percy Shelley as a first-person narrative of some power. While one scarce needs to embellish a real-life account so full of sex, drugs, intrigue and intellectual folderol, Bennett does not stick necessarily close to the truth, or what passes for it. At 16, Mary Godwin, whose mother the passionate feminist Mary Wollstonecraft died giving birth to, entrances the beautiful boy poet Shelley, who already has a pregnant teenage wife and a child. Mary’s stepsister Jane, who renames herself Claire, eventually is also smitten, not only by Shelley but by his friend George Lord Bryon. Mary, Shelley and Claire repair from the scandal they cause in London to Switzerland and later Italy. Suicide, the death of children and much seduction ensues. It is a wonder that any writing got done at all, but it did, even if Bennett moves the publication of Mary’s Frankenstein to after Shelley’s death rather than before. Teen readers will be awed at how much debauchery existed in the early 18th century. (Historical fiction. YA)
Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7636-2994-4
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
An homage to horror stories that doesn’t quite land.
A “final girl” finds herself in a real-life thriller in which survival isn’t an option.
Seventeen-year-old Charity works at Camp Mirror Lake, a horror-simulation camp in the woods of upstate New York. She’s moved up to being manager as well as Final Girl, the most desirable role in their nightly performance, thanks to her lifelong horror fandom, her mastery of fake blood, and her ability to navigate co-workers with all-too-real murderous impulses. But her real commitment to the faux frights comes from not having much of a home to go back to when the dust clears each season. The camp, owned by a Mr. Lamont, is located on the site where a 1980s cult classic was filmed. When her co-workers mysteriously don’t show for their roles as victims, Charity reaches out to her friend Paige and her girlfriend, Bezi, inviting them to fill in. As an aficionado of the genre and one of the few Black staff members, Charity is well aware of the usual tropes; as Bezi reminds her, “You know what happens to Black folks in slasher movies,” (Charity reassures her, “I’m the final girl….Guaranteed to survive the night”). Unfortunately, the slowly paced story meanders toward a reveal that readers may themselves have already anticipated. Ultimately, the tropes of the final girl and Black people’s roles in horror are reconciled in an inexplicable hurry.
An homage to horror stories that doesn’t quite land. (Horror. 14-18)Pub Date: June 20, 2023
ISBN: 9781547611546
Page Count: 350
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
A ponderous finale.
Prophecies and romance close out a trilogy.
Back in the world of Renalt and Achleva, multiple complex storylines weave together old and new themes. Initial nods at “Snow White” and “Sleeping Beauty” soon fracture into “Now,” with chapter headings counting down the days till Midwinter, and “Then,” the events happening one year, 13 years, or over a century ago. The Circle Midnight, a cultlike group, is implicated in the prophesied catastrophe that familiar characters, royalty and commoners alike, are fighting to prevent. This drawn-out tale lumbers through breathless revelations and twisty-turny character reveals, with formerly dead Aurelia and the noble Dominic Castillion as reincarnations of ancient, magical Queen Vieve and her beloved consort, Adamus. Overly ambitious worldbuilding, including different magical systems and religious groups, bog down the forward motion of the plot. There are a few interesting elements: One-handed Kellan learns to control a prosthetic hand made out of magical quicksilver; young King Conrad (8 years old, though written more like an early adolescent) purposefully drugs himself with memory-erasing frostlace to avoid detection by a charismatic, telepathic leader; and a deadly fever—connected to political machinations—spreads through the populace at a horrifying rate. Skin tones range from pale to dark brown, but racial categories seem to not exist.
A ponderous finale. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: April 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-328-49632-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2022
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