From creepy to hilarious to murkily outlandish: a freewheeling science-fiction nightmare/comedy from the inventive author of The Green Futures of Tycho (as well as several non-sf winners). Barney, 16, is summering with his folks in a rented house on the New England coast—a house that once belonged to a tormented, insane 19th-century sea-captain. And staying in the cottage nearby are three glamorous, vaguely European jet-set types: Zena, Manny, and Joe—an attractive but apparently non-sexual menage a trois. Why does this trio take such an intense interest in the house where Barney is staying? (They blatantly traipse in and search the place.) Why do they have in their possession the unpublished memoirs of that crazy sea-captain—who went mad after a visitation from some mysterious, unearthly sailor? Why do Barney's parents see the strangers as idealistic (Dad) and socially important (Mom)—when they're really neither? Those are a few of the questions on Barney's mind as he too finds himself being entranced by Zena, Manny, and Joe: they invite him over for an evening of "Interstellar Pig," a space-fantasy board game that's hysterically complicated and fiendishly "extreme." (Zena explains—"If you happen to be a water-breathing gill man from Thrilb, you can't set foot on Vavoosh without special breathing equipment, or you'll drown in boiling ammonia—not a pretty way to go. Or let's suggest you're an arachnoid nyph from Vavoosh, and you end on Mbridlengile, God forbid. . . .") Soon, however, Barney realizes that the trio is after some hidden treasure, buried by that captain on a nearby islet; he beats them to it, digging up "The Piggy," a trinket with unspecified cosmic powers; he now realizes that Zena et al. are aliens, that the board game is a miniature replica of actual space-life, that the sailor who drove the captain mad was a time-traveling alien. Eventually, then, the game turns very nasty indeed—as the glamorous three reveal their gross alien-monster selves, desperate to get The Piggy from Barney. And the closing pages offer a sort of astral battle: Barney turns into a lichen, learns that The Piggy has nuclear hiccups, tries to save the world from a 100 megaton explosion. . . and ultimately figures out the tricky true identity of The Piggy. Notwithstanding the crunch of confusing sf-puzzle cliches in this semi-tongue-in-cheek finale: steady, challenging amusement for savvy readers.
Pub Date: June 11, 1984
ISBN: 0140375953
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1984
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
This fresh reworking of a Greek myth will resonate.
An otherworldly Latinx retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth set in the South Bronx.
Pheus visits his father in the Bronx every summer. The Afro-Dominican teen is known for his mesmerizing bachata music, love of history, and smooth way with the ladies. Eury, a young Puerto Rican woman and Hurricane Maria survivor, is staying with her cousin for the summer because of a recent, unspecified traumatic event. Her family doesn’t know that she’s been plagued since childhood by the demonlike Ato. Pheus and Eury bond over music and quickly fall in love. Attacked at a dance club by Sileno, its salacious and satyrlike owner, Eury falls into a coma and is taken to el Inframundo by Ato. Pheus, despite his atheism, follows the advice of his father and a local bruja to journey to find his love in the Underworld. Rivera skillfully captures the sounds and feels of the Bronx—its unique, diverse culture and the creeping gentrification of its neighborhoods. Through an amalgamation of Greek, Roman, and Taíno mythology and religious beliefs, gaslighting, the colonization of Puerto Rico, Afro-Latinidad identity, and female empowerment are woven into the narrative. While the pacing lags in the middle, secondary characters aren’t fully developed, and the couple’s relationship borders on instalove, the rush of a summertime romance feels realistic. Rivera’s complex world is well realized, and the dialogue rings true. All protagonists are Latinx.
This fresh reworking of a Greek myth will resonate. (Fabulism. 14-adult)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0373-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
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