Constantly entertaining, intriguing, and suspenseful.
A girl wakes up a year after her murder to discover new, supernatural powers.
As she was only in a shallow grave, she easily kills the man who digs her up. Breezy can now tell if people are killers. If they are, she can grip their arms and pull them into a seemingly natural death. Once she kills them she gains their memories of murder. She meets a boy who tries to recruit her into a cult, but its leader, Mr. Willow, sees that she is a monster. When she tries to leave, she’s captured, awakening in a locked room with another woman, who has different powers. Once they overpower the guard, Breezy embarks on a mission to find and kill Mr. Willow, a task that proves to be even more dangerous than she might have realized. She also wants to learn just what kind of monster she has become; two ghouls, seemingly normal young men except for their dietary needs, help her. Wallace includes flashbacks of the events that led to Breezy’s murder at the age of 17, building a complete narrative that leads to a marvelously suspenseful climax. Unfolding through the eyes of the monster, the story first flips readers’ sympathies, then plays with that reversal. Mr. Willow makes a formidable villain, but it’s the final, real monster near the conclusion that wows readers.
Constantly entertaining, intriguing, and suspenseful. (Paranormal suspense. 12-18)Pub Date: Jan. 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-236620-7
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2015
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
Heart-pounding.
A gay, transgender brujo with burgeoning powers seeks answers about his cousin’s death.
Sixteen-year-old Yadriel also wishes for acknowledgement from his community but unexpectedly finds himself entangled in the unresolved wishes of a strong-willed, good-looking spirit. He descends from a long line of brujx who have been granted magic power by Lady Death to heal the living and to guide spirits into the afterlife. Although he’s grown up surrounded by a close-knit community, Yadriel feels alone, excluded indefinitely from a sacred rite of passage because he is transgender. When he senses that his cousin Miguel has died suddenly but the family can’t locate him, Yadriel sees an opportunity to prove to everyone he’s a true brujo by solving the mystery and releasing his cousin’s lost spirit. His plan quickly falls apart, as he accidentally summons the spirit of Julian Diaz, a boy with unfinished business who died the same day as Miguel. Both the romance and mystery burn slow and hot until the climax. Stakes begin high, and the intensity only increases with a looming deadline and a constant risk that Julian might lose himself, turning maligno. The cast of characters represents a diversity of Latinx identities sharing a community in East Los Angeles. Julian is Colombian while Yadriel is Cuban and Mexican. Their romance provides joyful, ground-breaking representation for gay, transgender boys.
Heart-pounding. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-25046-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Swoon Reads/Macmillan
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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