A light read that would have benefited from stronger characterization.
Trans teens fall for each other.
Seventeen-year-old Lucien Quan wants a change of scenery. His two moms were very supportive when he came out as trans, and his Toronto school became an even safer place when a more popular student came out as nonbinary, but he wants to figure himself out without all that attention. His aunt Jean agrees to house him in British Columbia for a semester, but upon arrival Lucien worries he made a mistake—he’s sleeping in an unfinished basement; they’re not accommodating his vegan, gluten-avoidant diet; and his cousins and uncle are buffoonish paragons of toxic masculinity. In a convenient meet-cute, he literally falls into the arms of gorgeous Alder, whom everyone seems to have a story about. In this short rom-com, Lucien meets other queer and trans denizens of the small town of Vernon and starts dating Alder, who doesn’t clearly communicate their shared trans history until the end. This brief read with a simplified style intended for reluctant and struggling teen readers provides much-needed queer representation for this format, but almost every character, from Lucien’s crunchy lesbian moms to Alder’s overly supportive therapist parents to the meddling new friends, reads like a broadly drawn stereotype. Racial cues are largely absent; Lucien’s surname cues one of his moms as Chinese Canadian.
A light read that would have benefited from stronger characterization. (Fiction. 12-17)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-4594-1629-1
Page Count: 168
Publisher: James Lorimer
Review Posted Online: Nov. 29, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2021
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
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A meditation on a timely subject that never forgets to put its characters and their stories first
An Afghani-Australian teen named Mina earns a scholarship to a prestigious private school and meets Michael, whose family opposes allowing Muslim refugees and immigrants into the country.
Dual points of view are presented in this moving and intelligent contemporary novel set in Australia. Eleventh-grader Mina is smart and self-possessed—her mother and stepfather (her biological father was murdered in Afghanistan) have moved their business and home across Sydney in order for her to attend Victoria College. She’s determined to excel there, even though being surrounded by such privilege is a culture shock for her. When she meets white Michael, the two are drawn to each other even though his close-knit, activist family espouses a political viewpoint that, though they insist it is merely pragmatic, is unquestionably Islamophobic. Tackling hard topics head-on, Abdel-Fattah explores them fully and with nuance. True-to-life dialogue and realistic teen social dynamics both deepen the tension and provide levity. While Mina and Michael’s attraction seems at first unlikely, the pair’s warmth wins out, and readers will be swept up in their love story and will come away with a clearer understanding of how bias permeates the lives of those targeted by it.
A meditation on a timely subject that never forgets to put its characters and their stories first . (Fiction. 12-17)Pub Date: May 9, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-338-11866-7
Page Count: 402
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
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