Sleator incorporates the new theories about chaos and its generation into this dark, complex SF story. Max awakes one morning to discover that he's lost a day. Furthermore, a brilliant scientist named Sylvan and his glamorous daughter, Eve, are after him to return something he doesn't remember taking. Even more confusing, Max meets a second, less colorful Sylvan and Eve who also want something from him. From various hints and clues, Max assembles an explanation: the missing instrument is a "phaser," a hand-held time machine. Using it to change the past inevitably remits in a bifurcation of time lines and a chaotic, lawless universe—as the first Sylvan and Eve have ruthlessly proven in their own time line. Now refugees, they must eliminate the other pair before they can settle here. Amid a welter of treachery, half-truths, second thoughts, and brisk zipping through time, Max foils the bad guys and ends up working in the lab with the more cautious Sylvan, while building his own phaser on the sly. To Max, Eve and the phaser are like drugs; though he knows both are deadly (she has matter-of-factly killed her unstable father), he just can't keep his hands off either. Max may initially enlist reader sympathy, but he's a sneaky, vacillating character, unable to resist his baser urges. Like The Boy Who Reversed Himself (1986), the story here is less memorable than the science behind it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1989
ISBN: 0140345825
Page Count: 169
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1989
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and...
A deliciously creepy page-turning gem from first-time writer and illustrator Brosgol finds brooding teenager Anya trying to escape the past—both her own and the ghost haunting her.
Anya feels out of place at her preppy private school; embarrassed by her Russian heritage, she has worked hard to lose her accent and to look more like everyone else. After a particularly frustrating morning at the bus stop, Anya storms off, only to accidentally fall down a well. Down in the dark hole, she meets Emily, a ghost who claims to be a murder victim trapped down in the dank abyss for 90 years. With Emily’s help, Anya manages to escape, though once free, she learns that Emily has traveled out with her. At first, Emily seems like the perfect friend; however, once her motives become clear, Anya learns that “perfect” may only be an illusion. A moodily atmospheric spectrum of grays washes over the clean, tidy panels, setting a distinct stage before the first words appear. Brosgol’s tight storytelling invokes the chilling feeling of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline (2002), though for a decidedly older set.
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and outward appearance. (Graphic supernatural fiction. 12 & up)Pub Date: June 7, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59643-552-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
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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