An immersive, supernatural take on the nuanced construction of Black identity that delivers hope and catharsis.
Biracial twin sisters, separated at birth in 1936 and raised on opposite sides of the Mason-Dixon Line, reunite to vanquish the metaphorical and literal ghosts of their entangled past.
For nearly 17 years, fledgling civil rights activist Charlene “Charlie” Yates believed she was the only child of a Black mother and a White father who were murdered by White segregationists. She has lived in Harlem with Nana, her maternal grandmother, but when Nana becomes terminally ill and demands to be buried in her rural hometown of Eureka, Georgia, Charlie accompanies her. As a result, she learns that she has a twin sister—a White-passing Southern belle named Magnolia Heathwood. At first, Charlie wants nothing to do with her twin, who seems hopelessly adrift between two worlds. But Nana’s death sheds light on a long-standing family curse that threatens Magnolia’s life, and Charlie’s conscience won’t allow her to leave. As the girls grow closer, they unearth horrifying details about the town’s brutal legacy of chattel slavery, discover how sisterhood can transcend the color line, and use the power of love to defeat the poison of hate. The narrative, which alternates between the first-person perspectives of Charlie and Magnolia, captures the horrors of Jim Crow without gratuitous detail, vividly depicts each sister’s internal struggles, and speaks to McWilliams’ skill with characterization.
An immersive, supernatural take on the nuanced construction of Black identity that delivers hope and catharsis. (family tree) (Historical fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Feb. 8, 2022
ISBN: 9780759553873
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Crowd-pleasing fun laced with political fire: a winner.
Bestselling author Faizal returns to the universe of We Hunt the Flame (2019) with a stand-alone duology opener.
Orphaned Arthie, brown-skinned with mauve hair, has created a criminal empire out of sheer pluck despite being Ceylani in Ettenia, where laws favor white people. She pulled legendary pistol Calibore from a stone plinth (though the prophecy that doing so would make her the nation’s leader turned out to be a hoax). She’s also built Spindrift, a teahouse-cum-bloodhouse, where she gathers secrets from wealthy humans and vampires, amassing power and security. Now Arthie has her sights set on vengeance—and the Ram, Ettenia’s masked monarch. When she and Jin, her brother-by-choice (who’s cued East Asian), are drawn into a heist, they assemble a diverse crew of immigrants whose roles riff on genre archetypes. The lush prose pulses with feeling as revelations are dropped and the tension ratchets up, keeping the pages turning as the motley gang plans to infiltrate a vampire society, retrieve a stolen ledger, and double-cross one of the Ram’s guards (who might be planning to double-cross them). Their ultimate goal: taking down the colonizing Ettenians and the exploitative East Jeevant Company. It’s all very exciting right up to the action-packed finale, which promises more conspiracy and (hopefully) justice to come. This compelling read offers interesting commentary on our society while feeling entirely real within the context of its own worldbuilding.
Crowd-pleasing fun laced with political fire: a winner. (map) (Fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2024
ISBN: 9780374389406
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023
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