A teen drama distractingly styled after social media–speak that’s bookended by incomprehensible cosmic complications.
Cosmic missions turn into a series of typical coming-of-age dramas in Myers’ novel, written in language intended to emulate that of today’s teens.
Outside of time and space is the Ethereal Universe, described by Myers as “a 24/7 kaleidoscope explosion, like your favorite EDM festival but on galactic steroids.” There, the Mental Beings Falin and Xin are trying to free brethren stuck in the Physical Universe, but a burst of energy separates them. As Falin floats through existence, he locks onto a planet called Naratu, which is either Earth under a different name or a planet exactly like it. He attaches himself to a newborn baby named Daniel and watches quietly as the child grows up. In school, Daniel shows prodigious powers that allow him to draw entire star systems by hand, “head down, pencil flying like a galaxy-brain Picasso,” but his incredible brainpower alienates him from other kids. Daniel struggles to fit in as he moves through different grades, and he eventually musters the courage to ask out his big crush, Alice, but this does not go well. Readers jump through time to see Daniel in the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades as he gains confidence and friends. His celestial powers remain mostly dormant, except for a few guiding messages from Falin and some out-of-this-world coding prowess. After high school, Daniel and his pals face personal crises while trying to make a living in the big city, while a larger existential crisis brews around them: the Mental Being Thron has slowly built an empire on Naratu. Why did Thron stay on the planet? “Bruh, because Thron’s out here straight-up body-hopping through the local wildlife,” explains the narrator. Naturally, Xin thinks that “Bro has lost the plot,” but can she and Falin accomplish their new mission?
Myers’ central conceit of ethereal beings trapped in the bodies of today’s social media–obsessed youth is a fun idea that calls to mind 1980s B-movies, such as Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure or My Stepmother Is an Alien. However, the unwieldiness of the plot quickly saps it of any enjoyment, as the cosmic beingsstep aside to make way for a parade of indistinguishable teens to bicker and fret about their crushes. There’s no clear throughline to Daniel’s story; he experiences typical adolescent feelings for several years, and then a random intergalactic showdown comes crashing into Earth—if it isEarth. What makes the novel confounding, however, is the author’s decision to write it entirely in “Gen-Z language,” stuffing seemingly every sentence with bothersome buzzwords and phrases such as vibes, grind, or “main character energy.” Characters are confused “like a buffering Wi-Fi signal,” shocked like “a plot twist in a Netflix series,” or focused “like [they are] tuned into a podcast.” Myers’ intention with all this never feels clear: If he’s satirizing the young generation, why do so for the entire book? It’s difficult to imagine that it will make young readers connect with it better, and older readers will probably disconnect early.
A teen drama distractingly styled after social media–speak that’s bookended by incomprehensible cosmic complications.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2025
ISBN: 9798306691909
Page Count: 270
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Suspenseful and snarky with surprising emotional depths.
This debut novel, the first of a projected trilogy, blends science fiction, fantasy, gothic chiller, and classic house-party mystery.
Gideon Nav, a foundling of mysterious antecedents, was not so much adopted as indentured by the Ninth House, a nearly extinct noble necromantic house. Trained to fight, she wants nothing more than to leave the place where everyone despises her and join the Cohort, the imperial military. But after her most recent escape attempt fails, she finally gets the opportunity to depart the planet. The heir and secret ruler of the Ninth House, the ruthless and prodigiously talented bone adept Harrowhark Nonagesimus, chooses Gideon to serve her as cavalier primary, a sworn bodyguard and aide de camp, when the undying Emperor summons Harrow to compete for a position as a Lyctor, an elite, near-immortal adviser. The decaying Canaan House on the planet of the absent Emperor holds dark secrets and deadly puzzles as well as a cheerfully enigmatic priest who provides only scant details about the nature of the competition...and at least one person dedicated to brutally slaughtering the competitors. Unsure of how to mix with the necromancers and cavaliers from the other Houses, Gideon must decide whom among them she can trust—and her doubts include her own necromancer, Harrow, whom she’s loathed since childhood. This intriguing genre stew works surprisingly well. The limited locations and narrow focus mean that the author doesn’t really have to explain how people not directly attached to a necromantic House or the military actually conduct daily life in the Empire; hopefully future installments will open up the author’s creative universe a bit more. The most interesting aspect of the novel turns out to be the prickly but intimate relationship between Gideon and Harrow, bound together by what appears at first to be simple hatred. But the challenges of Canaan House expose other layers, beginning with a peculiar but compelling mutual loyalty and continuing on to other, more complex feelings, ties, and shared fraught experiences.
Suspenseful and snarky with surprising emotional depths.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-31319-5
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A thrilling romance that could use more even pacing.
For the second time in her life, Leo must choose between her family and true love.
Nineteen-year-old Princess Leonie Kolburg’s royal family is bankrupt. In order to salvage the fortune they accrued before humans fled the frozen Earth 170 years ago, Leonie’s father is forcing her to participate in the Valg Season, an elaborate set of matchmaking events held to facilitate the marriages of rich and royal teens. Leo grudgingly joins in even though she has other ideas: She’s invented a water filtration system that, if patented, could provide a steady income—that is if Leo’s calculating Aunt Freja, the Captain of the ship hosting the festivities, stops blocking her at every turn. Just as Leo is about to give up hope, her long-lost love, Elliot, suddenly appears onboard three years after Leo’s family forced her to break off their engagement. Donne (Brightly Burning, 2018) returns to space, this time examining the fascinatingly twisted world of the rich and famous. Leo and her peers are nuanced, deeply felt, and diverse in terms of sexuality but not race, which may be a function of the realities of wealth and power. The plot is fast paced although somewhat uneven: Most of the action resolves in the last quarter of the book, which makes the resolutions to drawn-out conflicts feel rushed.
A thrilling romance that could use more even pacing. (Science fiction. 16-adult)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-328-94894-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
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