Anyone who read the first book was dying for this one months ago; they'll hardly be able to wait for the concluding volume.
In this addictive sequel to the acclaimed Divergent (2011), a bleak post-apocalyptic Chicago ruled by "factions" exemplifying different personality traits collapses into all-out civil war.
With both the Dauntless and Abnegation factions shattered by the Erudite attack, Tris and her companions seek refuge with Amity and Candor, and even among the factionless. But the Erudite search for "Divergents" continues relentlessly. They have a secret to protect—one they fear could prove more catastrophic than open warfare; one they will slaughter to keep hidden... Rather than ease readers back into this convoluted narrative, the book plunges the characters into immediate danger without clues to their current relationships, let alone their elaborate back stories. The focus is firmly on the narrator Tris, who, devastated by guilt and grief, reveals new depth and vitality. While taking actions less Dauntless than recklessly suicidal, she retains her convenient knack for overhearing crucial conversations and infallibly sizing up others. Her romance with Tobias is achingly tender and passionate, and her friends and enemies alike display a realistic spectrum of mixed motivations and conflicted choices. The unrelenting suspense piles pursuit upon betrayal upon torture upon pitched battles; the violence is graphic, grisly and shockingly indiscriminate. The climactic reveal, hinting at the secret origins of their society, is neither surprising nor particularly plausible, but the frenzied response makes for another spectacular cliffhanger.
Anyone who read the first book was dying for this one months ago; they'll hardly be able to wait for the concluding volume. (Science fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: May 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-202404-6
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
An absolute bop; Khorram’s best yet.
A boy band’s gay megastar struggles under public scrutiny.
Canadian boy band Kiss & Tell may have started out as a joke, but the five teens’ 2022 multicity tour is no laughing matter. While their first show brings feelings of euphoria, the spotlight shines a little too brightly on Hunter Drake when his ex-boyfriend posts their sexts on social media. The fans react negatively, prompting The Label to quickly revamp Hunter’s image with an updated wardrobe. The Label also plays matchmaker, suggesting a new beau: recently out Iranian American Kaivan Parvani from Kiss & Tell’s boy-band opener, PAR-K. Sparks fly, and the two boys decide to date for real. As Hunter, who is White, spends more time with Kaivan and less working on Kiss & Tell’s pivotal third album, tensions build among the band. Can they make it until the end of the tour? This is a love letter to boy bands, complete with lyrics and chord progressions that lend a sense of joyous authenticity. Combining first-person narrative with fictional interviews, think pieces, fan fiction, and more, the author effectively encapsulates the ecosystem of celebrity and fandom—and cultivates a strong, contemporary social message. Hunter’s myopic focus on his own queerness and objectification in the music industry opens the door for important conversations about the impact of identity, particularly as other members of the ethnically diverse band engage with him in ways that cleverly complicate readers’ reactions.
An absolute bop; Khorram’s best yet. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: March 22, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-32526-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
Vivi’s too precocious and world-weary from the start to make her relationship with practical Jonah ever feel like it has...
Vivi and Jonah’s hot summer romance is marred by her rebellion against her diagnosis of bipolar disorder and his grief over his father’s recent death.
Artistic and outgoing, Vivi enjoys adopting various personas through vintage clothing and retro makeup, and she becomes immediately popular in the town where she and her mom are vacationing. When she meets handsome and serious Jonah, Vivi seems as interested in the possibility of acquiring him as a hot fling as she is in cheering him up. Jonah’s shocked to find himself in the cross hairs of exotic Vivi, and he initially tries to protect their romance by hiding his stress over his mother’s lingering depression. Vivi’s beauty and exuberant attentions dazzle Jonah, and they largely explain his patience with her increasing capriciousness and the growing emotional distance that contradicts her demands for physical intimacy. But eventually Vivi’s dismissals of Jonah’s growing distress about his family strains their relationship. Readers understand that Vivi has secretly stopped taking her medication, but it’s still difficult to watch her illness overshadow her interest in Jonah. Ultimately this is Vivi’s journey, despite her sharing narration in alternating chapters with Jonah. Aside from a Japanese police officer and the Latino chef at Jonah’s family’s restaurant, the book’s cast is largely white. An author’s note supplies some resources on mental illness.
Vivi’s too precocious and world-weary from the start to make her relationship with practical Jonah ever feel like it has possibility beyond the end of the summer, regardless of her diagnosis. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61963-845-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
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