An affecting and unforgettable SF series with heart.
In this trilogy closer, a group of teens fights their final battle against intergalactic foes.
Picking up where Born To Run (2019) left off with its nail-biting cliffhanger, siblings Samantha and Wyatt Erickson are trying to find each other across vast galaxies. Sam and girlfriend Mia escape from an interstellar prison while Wyatt and friend Adiva fly across the cosmos to save them. Sam believes her parents are alive and presumes to have found the prison where inmates are forced to fight in an alien civil war. The maliciously evil extraterrestrial known as the Sheriff, now sick with a mutating virus, is in close pursuit of the Ericksons. As the tension ratchets up with a ferocious intensity, they face off for the ultimate battle, which both profoundly thrills and devastates with its bittersweet conclusion. Walz’s series has been consistently fantastic, with its inclusive worldbuilding and electrifying pacing coupled with dazzling, cinematically styled art. Throughout the series, the characters have explored what it means to be labeled “useless,” affirming the intrinsic value of those considered lesser for being different by small-minded bigots (in this case, virulent, war-hungry aliens). The team that saves the day encompasses a broad spectrum of identities: Sam, neurodiverse Wyatt, and Harper, Wyatt’s Deaf girlfriend, present White; Mia is cued as Latinx; and Adiva is a brown-skinned, hijabi Muslim girl from the U.S. South.
An affecting and unforgettable SF series with heart. (Graphic science fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-62672-895-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2020
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
A dark and gripping feminist tale.
A young woman faces her past to discover the truth about one of her nation’s heroes.
When Effy Sayre, the only female architecture student at her university in Llyr, wins the competition to design Hiraeth Manor for the estate of the late Emrys Myrddin, national literary figure and her favorite author, it is the perfect opportunity to leave behind a recent trauma. She arrives to find the cliffside estate is literally crumbling into the ocean, and she quickly realizes things may not be as they seem. Preston, an arrogant literature student, is also working at the estate, gathering materials for the university’s archives and questioning everything Effy knows about Myrddin. When Preston offers to include her name on his thesis—which may allow her to pursue the dream of studying literature that was frustrated by the university’s refusal to admit women literature students—Effy agrees to help him. He’s on a quest for answers about the source of Myrddin’s most famous work, Angharad, a romance about a cruel Fairy King who marries a mortal woman. Meanwhile, Myrddin’s son has secrets of his own. Preston and Effy start to suspect that Myrddin’s fairy tales may hold more truth than they realize. The Welsh-inspired setting is impressively atmospheric, and while some of the mythology ends up feeling extraneous, the worldbuilding is immersive and thoughtfully addresses misogyny and its effects on how history is written. Main characters are cued white.
A dark and gripping feminist tale. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780063211506
Page Count: 384
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
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