A wild ride of a debut featuring mystery, murder, and mayhem that will keep readers riveted.
A reality TV competition held on an island located on a mystery planet turns deadly.
Bexley Ryker, Zane Wilder, and Raya Quinn each receive invitations to participate in The Pinnacle, a show involving teamwork, “physical and mental challenges,” and trying to avoid being voted off. For this special 250th season, the 10 contestants will be between ages 16 and 18, and the winner will get both a large sum of money and a full university scholarship. Bex, a wealthy girl from the planet Rikas, wants a fresh start. Zane, whose late father was a prominent politician, needs the money to help his mother. Raya hates her impoverished life on The Moons, where the Gentry control the miners. After everyone arrives on the island, an anonymous provocateur dredges up the skeletons in each of their closets. Allusions to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None abound as the contestants are pitted against one other until they’re unable to distinguish friend from enemy. The chapters rotate among Bex’s, Zane’s and Raya’s first-person points of view, and their limited perspectives boost the impact of the suspenseful revelations. The novel’s unpredictable, action-packed storyline keeps readers guessing until the very end while also challenging the injustices inherent in classist systems. The three leads are cued white, and names suggest some diversity in the supporting cast.
A wild ride of a debut featuring mystery, murder, and mayhem that will keep readers riveted. (Science-fiction thriller. 12-18)Pub Date: May 20, 2025
ISBN: 9780241641576
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Puffin/Penguin Random House UK
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
PERSPECTIVES
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
BOOK REVIEW
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in.
Black is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy.
Jude—broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness—has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others. Fierce and observant Jude is utterly unaware of the currents that swirl around her. She fights, plots, even murders enemies, but she must also navigate her relationship with her complex family (human, Faerie, and mixed). This is a heady blend of Faerie lore, high fantasy, and high school drama, dripping with description that brings the dangerous but tempting world of Faerie to life.
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-31027-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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