A strong continuation of a teen fantasy series that doesn’t shy away from life’s darker side.
In the second book of her YA paranormal fantasy series, Barnhart (The Rampart Guards, 2016) pits her 14-year-old hero against the insidious forces of authoritarianism.
Over the last year, Jason Lex has already come to terms with a lot: the existence of cryptids on Earth (not-so-mythical creatures, such as Encantados and Yeti); his own newly discovered fire-wielding powers as a Rampart Guard; and his mother’s death after she turned evil and tried to destroy the world. It’s a lot to cope with, and just when Jason’s life seems as if it might be settling down, a new threat emerges from within the League of Governors, which regulates interactions between humans and cryptids. After following his father and sister from the United States to London, Jason is attacked by a man in a ski mask. When he wakes up, he’s in a strange hospital, run by members of a conspiracy that threatens not only to topple the League, but also to take away everyone Jason holds dear. Adult readers may initially find Barnhart's delivery lacking in weight, as her prose contains little description and little sense of place, and events unfold more with subsequence than consequence. The lack of emotional impact, however, is quite in keeping with its young-adult characters’ worldview. Jason sometimes appears to be naïve, but he is, in fact, merely trusting and unprejudiced. When he seems indifferent, he’s really just showing a 14-year-old’s distinct form of resilience. Jason is the only character who has a fully developed voice; he’s a disinterested, angst-y, yet clearsighted and determined teenager. The other characters blend into a homogeneous cast of not-Jasons—but that’s the point. As the story’s paranormal element remains largely in the background, Jason fights against the League’s oppressive demand for conformity. He carries the dual burdens of feeling powerless and responsible, and his struggle is the perfect metaphor for teenage isolation. The book is relatable on this fundamental level, and its creepy setting and end-of-chapter hooks will entice many YA readers.
A strong continuation of a teen fantasy series that doesn’t shy away from life’s darker side.Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9969031-4-1
Page Count: 431
Publisher: Camashea Press
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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