Engaging but overloaded.
A series opener infused with Chinese folklore and populated by supernatural creatures.
As punishment for the first Emperor’s greed, the gods unleashed nightmarish Wrathlings to terrorize the Middle Kingdom, later known as China. The heavenly Jade Emperor eventually relented and provided the kingdom with protection: 12 warriors, each descended from a Chinese zodiac animal. Generations later, during the Second Opium War, the zodiac warriors’ source of power, a fountain called the Circle of Twelve, was dismantled, and the Descendants were cursed, becoming supernatural beings. In present-day Manhattan, the Earthly Branches Academy trains the Descendants and assigns them to protect mortals. When Julius Long, Chancellor of the Descendants’ High Council, dies while attempting to restore the Circle of Twelve, dissatisfaction with the Long family’s leadership begins to stir among the Council, and vampire Evangeline Long is compelled to continue her brother’s mission to prove her worth. To recover the Circle’s stolen pieces, Evangeline forms a specialized team: expert criminal and werewolf Tristan She, fox spirit Nicholas Hu (a master of disguise), Lei, a shaman with valuable knowledge of the Faerie realm, and Alice Jiang, a human who can read minds. This story has many appealing elements—a dangerous heist, a potential second-chance romance, and fantastical beings—but some of the more original elements are overly complex and unconvincing. The book also covers so much worldbuilding that it descends into infodumps and doesn’t fully coalesce.
Engaging but overloaded. (illustrated character guide) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9780593646410
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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