Even the requisite romance is drowned in florid prose and uneven characterization
Madeline Landry, the daughter of one of the richest and most powerful noble houses of a nuclear future, hopes to empower society's weakest without endangering her own wealth and comfort.
In the month since Madeline's seen her cruel father banished (Landry Park, 2014), peace seems further than ever. The wealthy Uprisen loathe Madeline's willingness to work with the Rootless—the de facto enslaved class forced to handle spent uranium. The short-lived Rootless, on the other hand, have no trust for Madeline's slow-moving moderation. As if that weren't enough, some dastardly villain keeps artistically murdering Uprisen in Madeline's ancestral home. The very model of Martin Luther King’s white moderate, “paternalistically believing she can set the timetable” for the Rootless' freedom, Madeline is a bundle of contradictions. She's unendingly concerned with the styles and fabrics used in her clothing while primly mocking those interested in "fashion and celebrity gossip." Unwilling to risk her ancestral home, she begs for order while the police rampage through the Rootless ghetto. Though she knows the Rootless live in starvation, she wants to "convince them it will be better to wait" while she attends endless dinners of "seared bluefin tuna," "bacon-flecked spinach," and "lamb with mint sauce." Poor little Madeline, who laments that being a pale-skinned redhead among the darker Uprisen makes her "different."
Even the requisite romance is drowned in florid prose and uneven characterization . (Science fiction. 13-15)Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3949-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
Teens who have outgrown Percy Jackson and moved into the paranormal-romance phase won't mind the amateurish prose; they'll...
What if Bella Swan were a demigod?
Helen is the loveliest girl on Nantucket, but until the sexy Delos family comes to the island, she's always tried to stay under the radar. It's not just her looks that attract attention; Helen knows her strength, speed and hearing all approach superpower levels. But she can't stay hidden in the presence of the Delos cousins, Jason, Hector, Cassandra, Ariadne and the sexiest one, Lucas—yes, Lucas. (Some complicated handwaving explains why he is named Lucas instead of—as was intended—Paris.) Readers trained on trendy Greek mythological fantasy won't be surprised to learn both Helen and the newcomers are demigods. In their blonde beauty (really!), they look exactly like their quasi-mythological ancestors and are cursed by the Furies and the gods to replay ancient dramas across history. Lucas and Helen are both drawn together and forced apart by fate and desire. The cousins, meanwhile, help Helen develop her powerful demigod abilities while tutoring her on the massive forces arrayed against her. Though weirdly inconsistent perspective, startling shifts of voice and scenes that feel like they've been copied almost directly from Twilight break the flow, the drama's epic scale complements the love story's pacing. A refreshingly strong heroine carries readers into the setup for book two.
Teens who have outgrown Percy Jackson and moved into the paranormal-romance phase won't mind the amateurish prose; they'll be caught up in the we-must-we-can't sexual tension. (Paranormal romance. 13-15)Pub Date: June 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-201199-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
Interesting plot twists almost carry endless pages of Forbidden Love.
Real sexual tension apparently requires all the divine forces in the universe be arrayed against you, if this book is any guide.
Demigods and erstwhile lovers Helen and Lucas can never be together, because they're secretly first cousins. Just in case the couple realizes that relationships between cousins aren't considered incest in their home state of Massachusetts (or 24 other states in the union), Lucas's father explains that the future of the demigod species, nay, of the entire planet depends on the couple staying apart. Because! Of history! And magical things! And could Lucas just stop being so selfish? Lucas responds by pretending to hate Helen, following the standard tortured-angsty-boy recipe for staying away from his girlfriend. Poor Helen, meanwhile, is spending all her sleeping hours traveling the Underworld. She hopes to defeat the Furies and end the senseless feuding that has tormented the semi-divine Scions since the Trojan War, but she can't seem to make any headway in the blasted hellscape of the Underworld. Not to mention, her magical journeys are keeping her from REM sleep, thus probably killing her. At least she's met a hot new Scion in the Underworld to fill the vacancy Lucas left by being such a meanie.
Interesting plot twists almost carry endless pages of Forbidden Love. (Paranormal romance. 13-15)Pub Date: May 29, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-201201-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2012
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