A fun, fast-paced tale about seven young, immensely powerful prisoners.
A YA thriller blends sci-fi, post-apocalyptic fiction, and a coming-of-age story.
In a near future when humanity has been laid low by a global pandemic, the vaccine that essentially saves the human race from eradication causes unforeseen side effects: a small percentage of the population is born with inexplicable mental abilities. Called psions, these children with intensely blue “starburst” eyes and unimaginable powers are forcibly separated from their families and sent to special institutions, which are more like prisons than schools. The storyline revolves around Devon McWilliams, a young psion (with the power to communicate with plants) whose failed attempt to escape his psi facility in the Badlands of North Dakota lands him in a mysterious government lockup with other detainees. Headed for death—or worse—the seven young psions include a butt-kicking telepath named Bai Lee Chen, the daughter of a U.S. senator, and a girl named Alya with healing powers who turns out to be Devon’s love interest. They must figure out a way to escape and find the mythical Psionic Underground Network (“They were all trapped within the same sinking vessel,” Devon muses. “In order to survive, they would have to find a way to work together”). Powered by adept writing, relentless pacing, numerous action scenes, and a cast of fully realized and authentic characters, this novel is undeniably a page-turner. But it is not without its faults. There are stories within the main story here: first-person narratives told from varying characters’ perspectives. While some of these are fully fleshed out, others seem rushed and incomplete. Additionally, the relationship between Devon and Alya comes across as contrived. The biggest flaw, however, involves the conclusion. After building tension throughout the entire tale, the book delivers an action sequence at the end that’s far too abrupt. And although Brotherlin (Monsters in the M.A.C., 1996) adequately examines potentially weighty YA themes like acceptance and self-confidence, some readers may be left wanting more thematic depth and profundity.
A fun, fast-paced tale about seven young, immensely powerful prisoners.Pub Date: May 5, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-63392-006-4
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sparse, beautifully drawn story about a teen discovering her heritage.
In this YA graphic novel, an alienated Métis girl learns about her people’s Canadian history.
Métis teenager Echo Desjardins finds herself living in a home away from her mother, attending a new school, and feeling completely lonely as a result. She daydreams in class and wanders the halls listening to a playlist of her mother’s old CDs. At home, she shuts herself up in her room. But when her history teacher begins to lecture about the Pemmican Wars of early 1800s Saskatchewan, Echo finds herself swept back to that time. She sees the Métis people following the bison with their mobile hunting camp, turning the animals’ meat into pemmican, which they sell to the Northwest Company in order to buy supplies for the winter. Echo meets a young girl named Marie, who introduces Echo to the rhythms of Métis life. She finally understands what her Métis heritage actually means. But the joys are short-lived, as conflicts between the Métis and their rivals in the Hudson Bay Company come to a bloody head. The tragic history of her people will help explain the difficulties of the Métis in Echo’s own time, including those of her mother and the teen herself. Accompanied by dazzling art by Henderson (A Blanket of Butterflies, 2017, etc.) and colorist Yaciuk (Fire Starters, 2016, etc.), this tale is a brilliant bit of time travel. Readers are swept back to 19th-century Saskatchewan as fully as Echo herself. Vermette’s (The Break, 2017, etc.) dialogue is sparse, offering a mostly visual, deeply contemplative juxtaposition of the present and the past. Echo’s eventual encounter with her mother (whose fate has been kept from readers up to that point) offers a powerful moment of connection that is both unexpected and affecting. “Are you…proud to be Métis?” Echo asks her, forcing her mother to admit, sheepishly: “I don’t really know much about it.” With this series opener, the author provides a bit more insight into what that means.
A sparse, beautifully drawn story about a teen discovering her heritage.Pub Date: March 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-55379-678-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HighWater Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Bulky, balky, talky.
In an updated quest for the Holy Grail, the narrative pace remains stuck in slo-mo.
But is the Grail, in fact, holy? Turns out that’s a matter of perspective. If you’re a member of that most secret of clandestine societies, the Priory of Sion, you think yes. But if your heart belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, the Grail is more than just unholy, it’s downright subversive and terrifying. At least, so the story goes in this latest of Brown’s exhaustively researched, underimagined treatise-thrillers (Deception Point, 2001, etc.). When Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon—in Paris to deliver a lecture—has his sleep interrupted at two a.m., it’s to discover that the police suspect he’s a murderer, the victim none other than Jacques Saumière, esteemed curator of the Louvre. The evidence against Langdon could hardly be sketchier, but the cops feel huge pressure to make an arrest. And besides, they don’t particularly like Americans. Aided by the murdered man’s granddaughter, Langdon flees the flics to trudge the Grail-path along with pretty, persuasive Sophie, who’s driven by her own need to find answers. The game now afoot amounts to a scavenger hunt for the scholarly, clues supplied by the late curator, whose intent was to enlighten Sophie and bedevil her enemies. It’s not all that easy to identify these enemies. Are they emissaries from the Vatican, bent on foiling the Grail-seekers? From Opus Dei, the wayward, deeply conservative Catholic offshoot bent on foiling everybody? Or any one of a number of freelancers bent on a multifaceted array of private agendas? For that matter, what exactly is the Priory of Sion? What does it have to do with Leonardo? With Mary Magdalene? With (gulp) Walt Disney? By the time Sophie and Langdon reach home base, everything—well, at least more than enough—has been revealed.
Bulky, balky, talky.Pub Date: March 18, 2003
ISBN: 0-385-50420-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2003
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
