This familiar-feeling novel nevertheless takes a different look at the cost of conformity and the price of independence.
For most teenagers, fitting in is a high priority. But for some, remaining independent is even more important.
Jennza and the rest of her born-mates have been raised knowing that when they turn 15 they’ll be chosen by one of ShareHaven’s families. They’ll receive the memories of a family member lost to an accident, bringing that person back to life. Most are eager to take their place in society, hoping to be chosen for a life already proven productive and happy, welcomed back by parents, siblings, spouses, and offspring. But for Jennza, the Celebraze isn’t a happy occasion; it’s a fearful one. Once chosen, she’ll have to give up her memories…and aren’t her memories what make her unique? Jennza’s always been a bit curious, a bit different, someone who likes to climb fences and explore by the sea. She’s even found a new creature she’s adopted as her pet, Petal, part sea creature, part lizard, all playful affection. Jennza is sure there’s more to the world and to life. Singleton’s plot treads familiar genre ground, from world-specific vocabulary, much of it capitalized, to a first-person, present-tense narration that’s frequently expository. Racial categories do not seem to exist, and characters’ skin color tends to be described only when it’s nonwhite.
This familiar-feeling novel nevertheless takes a different look at the cost of conformity and the price of independence. (Science fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-944821-08-1
Page Count: 396
Publisher: CBAY
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
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
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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