Political intrigue unfolds against the glittering backdrop of an alternative Venice, in the first of a promised trilogy. Fifteen-year-old Lucien copes with chemotherapy in present-day London, but when he falls asleep clutching an exotic journal, he wakes up in Bellezza, the Venice-analog of a parallel Renaissance Italy. This rare gift of “stravagation”—using a talisman to travel between worlds—brings Lucien the protection of a powerful nobleman and friendship with the headstrong young Arianna; but also entangles him in the maneuverings of Bellezza’s glamorous Duchessa against the wily Chemici (read: Medici) clan. Meanwhile, as his visits to Bellezza become more enthralling, Lucien’s body in his home world is slowly dying. Hoffman’s (The Color of Home, p. 1225, etc.) fast-paced plot tightly integrates the fantastic with the historical and frequent cuts between viewpoints ratchet up the suspense. Unfortunately, Lucien and Arianna are not particularly compelling characters, and are too often merely pawns in the intricate factional machinations. The story is dominated by the overwhelming personality of the Duchessa, but even her most devoted adherents admit that she is a “ruthless, selfish, stubborn, bossy woman”; many teens will lack the historical background to appreciate her motives. While Hoffman clearly adores the setting, Bellezza is too sketchily realized for the reader to care passionately about its political fate. The tidy resolution seems to leave little room for sequels; still, some intriguing minor characters and glimpses of other cities hint at a richer world than so far revealed. (Fantasy. 11+)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2002
ISBN: 1-58234-791-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2002
Wrought with admirable skill—the emptiness and menace underlying this Utopia emerge step by inexorable step: a richly...
In a radical departure from her realistic fiction and comic chronicles of Anastasia, Lowry creates a chilling, tightly controlled future society where all controversy, pain, and choice have been expunged, each childhood year has its privileges and responsibilities, and family members are selected for compatibility.
As Jonas approaches the "Ceremony of Twelve," he wonders what his adult "Assignment" will be. Father, a "Nurturer," cares for "newchildren"; Mother works in the "Department of Justice"; but Jonas's admitted talents suggest no particular calling. In the event, he is named "Receiver," to replace an Elder with a unique function: holding the community's memories—painful, troubling, or prone to lead (like love) to disorder; the Elder ("The Giver") now begins to transfer these memories to Jonas. The process is deeply disturbing; for the first time, Jonas learns about ordinary things like color, the sun, snow, and mountains, as well as love, war, and death: the ceremony known as "release" is revealed to be murder. Horrified, Jonas plots escape to "Elsewhere," a step he believes will return the memories to all the people, but his timing is upset by a decision to release a newchild he has come to love. Ill-equipped, Jonas sets out with the baby on a desperate journey whose enigmatic conclusion resonates with allegory: Jonas may be a Christ figure, but the contrasts here with Christian symbols are also intriguing.
Wrought with admirable skill—the emptiness and menace underlying this Utopia emerge step by inexorable step: a richly provocative novel. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: April 1, 1993
ISBN: 978-0-395-64566-6
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1993
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in.
Black is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy.
Jude—broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness—has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others. Fierce and observant Jude is utterly unaware of the currents that swirl around her. She fights, plots, even murders enemies, but she must also navigate her relationship with her complex family (human, Faerie, and mixed). This is a heady blend of Faerie lore, high fantasy, and high school drama, dripping with description that brings the dangerous but tempting world of Faerie to life.
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-31027-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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