A moving finish to a compelling YA SF series.
The final volume in Enfield’s Time Alleys series sees Mick Conway reunited with his sister while aiming to prevent a sinister network from using time travel as a weapon.
In 1853 London, Mick and his friends are persevering in their roles at the Forsyth Institute. Freshly promoted from a street team to a “greet team,” Alison, Leech, Dolly, and Mick can share more information through the Institute’s secret telegraph network as part of a city-wide operation responsible for “scouring the sequences for signs that time was misbehaving.” Following the cataclysmic Collapse in The Flickering Bridge (2024), several of their ranks were lost in a one-way portal to 1767, orchestrated by former ally Lady Penbrook and assisted by Catherine Collins, who turned out to be Mick’s sister; due to shifting loyalties and ongoing underhand plots, Mick must hold this secret close to his chest. The Institute adults note that Lady Penbrook’s expanding operations threaten the future of all the “alley rats,” and that she’s allied with the egotistical Lord Harrowgrave. Mick must keep a watchful eye on his sibling; meanwhile, he notes that time portals are continuing to display ominous characteristics, “dividing into concentric rings, each spinning in the opposite direction from the ones it was touching.” Enfield’s final series installment features all the intricate plotting, good-humored charm, and amiable, diverse characterization that one expects from the Time Alleys tales. The author effectively balances pathos and hijinks in a version of Victorian London with a unique SF slant. The mechanics of the time alleys are well-constructed, and readers will enjoy decoding the alley rats’ messages through time, right alongside the main characters. Mick is once again shown to be an emotionally mature protagonist who copes with the loss of his former, future life while also managing the responsibilities of his role at the Institute. The importance of found family is further strengthened in this volume, as Mick concludes that “his friends were his home. His sister was his home."
A moving finish to a compelling YA SF series.Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781961953260
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Wayzgoose Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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