Surreal and mysterious; a wild ride.
To escape the clutches of a magical hotel, a Las Vegas teen must uncover its mysterious origins—or be forced to reside there forever.
Sixteen-year-old Anna Alonso just planned the perfect wedding for her older sister, Emily. But when the girls’ dad surprises Emily and her new husband with a condo in Manhattan as a wedding present, organized Anna, always prepared, is devastated; she’d planned on having the new couple nearby. To make matters worse, a tornado watch is issued as Anna, her dad, and his two business associates leave the wedding in their limo. Battered by the increasingly dangerous weather, they reluctantly head to the Houdini, the nearest of the hotels they own. When a telephone pole falls on the limo, trapping her dad and friends inside, Anna seeks help in the Houdini, but it’s strangely deserted and the doors are locked, so she can’t get out. Heading deeper into the hotel, she meets a resident boy named Max who offers to help—but can she trust him? Readers familiar with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Tempest will notice the influences from both works, and fans of contemporary fantasy will be drawn into the magical world explored in this story that is full of twists and turns. Lush details, from descriptions of food and drink to the hotel’s furnishings, will engross readers: While Anna is trying to leave the Houdini, readers might not want to. Most characters are cued white.
Surreal and mysterious; a wild ride. (Fantasy. 12-17)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9780593486795
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play.
Garber returns to the world of bestseller Caraval (2017), this time with the focus on younger, more daring sister Donatella.
Valenda, capital of the empire, is host to the second of Legend’s magical games in a single year, and while Scarlett doesn’t want to play again, blonde Tella is eager for a chance to prove herself. She is haunted by the memory of her death in the last game and by the cursed Deck of Destiny she used as a child which foretold her loveless future. Garber has changed many of the rules of her expanding world, which now appears to be infused with magic and evil Fates. Despite a weak plot and ultraviolet prose (“He tasted like exquisite nightmares and stolen dreams, like the wings of fallen angels, and bottles of fresh moonlight.”), this is a tour de force of imagination. Themes of love, betrayal, and the price of magic (and desire) swirl like Caraval’s enchantments, and Dante’s sensuous kisses will thrill readers as much as they do Tella. The convoluted machinations of the Prince of Hearts (one of the Fates), Legend, and even the empress serve as the impetus for Tella’s story and set up future volumes which promise to go bigger. With descriptions focusing primarily on clothing, characters’ ethnicities are often indeterminate.
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play. (glossary) (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-09531-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A meditation on a timely subject that never forgets to put its characters and their stories first
An Afghani-Australian teen named Mina earns a scholarship to a prestigious private school and meets Michael, whose family opposes allowing Muslim refugees and immigrants into the country.
Dual points of view are presented in this moving and intelligent contemporary novel set in Australia. Eleventh-grader Mina is smart and self-possessed—her mother and stepfather (her biological father was murdered in Afghanistan) have moved their business and home across Sydney in order for her to attend Victoria College. She’s determined to excel there, even though being surrounded by such privilege is a culture shock for her. When she meets white Michael, the two are drawn to each other even though his close-knit, activist family espouses a political viewpoint that, though they insist it is merely pragmatic, is unquestionably Islamophobic. Tackling hard topics head-on, Abdel-Fattah explores them fully and with nuance. True-to-life dialogue and realistic teen social dynamics both deepen the tension and provide levity. While Mina and Michael’s attraction seems at first unlikely, the pair’s warmth wins out, and readers will be swept up in their love story and will come away with a clearer understanding of how bias permeates the lives of those targeted by it.
A meditation on a timely subject that never forgets to put its characters and their stories first . (Fiction. 12-17)Pub Date: May 9, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-338-11866-7
Page Count: 402
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
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