An overstuffed yet engaging series opener.
Raised at sea as a pirate with her family to escape land-dwelling monsters, a 17-year-old suddenly finds herself a captive, navigating a world of magic and politics in order to survive.
Aster Oberon has lived on the Lightbringer with her parents and six siblings her entire life. Six hundred years ago, people took to the sea after Nightweavers began hunting and enslaving humans. After her family’s ship is attacked, and her oldest brother, Owen, is killed, Aster and her family are brought to shore and sold into service at Bludgrave Manor, home of the wealthy and influential Castor family of Nightweavers. Despite their lowly status, the other members of Aster’s family seem relieved to have left their hard life at sea behind; Aster is the only one with the urge to run. But the night she tries, handsome, green-eyed Will, the son of Lord Castor, stops her with a promise: He’ll help her find the monster who killed her brother. What follows is a complicated web of half-truths, political conspiracy, magic, bloody gore, and forbidden desire. The worldbuilding in this debut grows to the point where it’s challenging to keep up with the details, and readers may become confused about who’s on the side of right and who or what they’re fighting for. Aster and Will’s romance becomes a bit repetitive, but overall, the plot offers enough twists and turns to keep readers’ attention. Main characters present white.
An overstuffed yet engaging series opener. (Fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780316587259
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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