Both a mesmerizing fantasy adventure and a haunting meditation on shared trauma.
Cast adrift after the war that they were created to fight, seven magical warriors search for meaning in the defense of a mountain village.
In a tale explicitly inspired by the Kurosawa classic Seven Samurai, the seven teens—six use she/her pronouns, and one uses they/them —are drawn together by a variety of acknowledged motives: duty, fulfillment, the promise of spoils. But what keeps them together is their brutal history and the kinship it has forged. Yanked from their homes at age 5, kindlings have been shaped into killing machines, expert both in ordinary weaponry and in summoning the blazing balar magic that literally burns its wielders out by their late teens. Chee assembles a cast that is both clearly individuated and collective. With the character perspective shifting chapter by chapter, the consistent use of the second person and occasional occurrences of us or we emphasize the group identity. Sentences frequently end in em dashes, strung in truncated paragraphs that highlight the kindlings’ feelings of brokenness; parenthetical statements express uncomfortable truths: “You believed in the code. You would’ve killed for it— / (You did kill for it.) / You would’ve died for it— / (You almost did—).” A complex cosmology lends texture to a world that features racial, sexual, and gender diversity; the kindlings share a common phenotype, with “angular” eyes, straight black hair, and skin in shades of brown or tan.
Both a mesmerizing fantasy adventure and a haunting meditation on shared trauma. (map) (Fantasy. 13-adult)Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2024
ISBN: 9780063269354
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
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
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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