Review of Gallant, by V. E. Schwab, read by Julian Rhind-Tutt

Paranormal, Teen Fiction Review 0

Gallant

by V. E. Schwab
read by Julian Rhind-Tutt

Greenwillow Books, 2022. 7 hours, 41 minutes.
Review written January 4, 2023, from a library eaudiobook.

I’m not a big fan of horror, so this book was just a tad too creepy for me, but you can be sure I listened to every word.

Olivia Prior has grown up in an orphanage, unable to speak. She doesn’t know why she can’t speak when she can hear perfectly well, but she’s not able to make any sounds come out of her mouth. She’s also always been able to see ghouls. She has memories of her mother, but her main tangible connection with her mother is a journal she left with Olivia at the orphanage — a journal in which it sounds like her mother is going mad. There’s a letter to Olivia at the end of the journal, where she tells Olivia that she’ll be fine, as long as she stays away from Gallant.

Then one day a letter comes to the orphanage, claiming to be from Olivia’s uncle. He’s written to every orphanage and is begging her to come home. Olivia is more than happy to leave the orphanage, but when she arrives at the estate, the place is called Gallant. And Olivia’s uncle died a year ago. And his son, her cousin, tells her to stay away.

But the caretakers, Edgar and Hannah, are happy to have Olivia, who reminds them of her mother.

It doesn’t take long, though, to realize that terrible things are happening at Gallant. On the other side of the wall, there’s a shadow house, ruled by Death himself. The Prior family tries to keep Death on the other side, but Olivia’s presence may be throwing things off. Olivia finds another journal of her mother’s, and it casts light on who she is. On which side of the wall does Olivia’s destiny lie?

This book is atmospheric and spooky. The book has a young female protagonist, but they chose as the narrator an older gentleman with a British accent — and the choice is absolutely perfect.

It’s a creepy and haunting tale that will keep you turning pages or listening to another few minutes.

veschwab.com
EpicReads.com

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Review of If You Could See the Sun, by Ann Liang

Paranormal, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

If You Could See the Sun

by Ann Liang

Inkyard Press, 2022. 341 pages.
Review written November 29, 2022, from my own copy, sent by the publisher for the Cybils Awards
Starred Review

This book begins when Alice Sun’s parents tell her they can only afford one more semester of the elite international school she attends in Beijing, where she vies for top scores with her nemesis Henry Li. She is the only scholarship student at the school, but half of tuition simply isn’t enough.

Then when attending classes, worried about having to leave, Alice feels completely unseen — and turns invisible. For a short period of time, she can’t see her reflection and no one can see her.

At first she turns to people for help, but no one can do anything, not even her beloved aunt. But something Henry Li says makes her wonder if she can monetize her power. So he makes an app — and people can anonymously ask the “Beijing Ghost” to do things for them in secret.

Well, it starts by working out beautifully, but the requests get more and more shady. But if Alice can earn enough money, she can pay the tuition herself and stay at her school. But how far is she willing to go? And what happens if she gets caught?

I like the way this debut author takes one paranormal situation — spontaneously turning invisible — and builds a story about it. The phenomenon is never explained, though it seems to happen when Alice feels most overlooked. The book also shines light on inequities of wealth and power. And of course there’s a nice romance.

AnnLiang.com

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Review of Burn Down, Rise Up, by Vincent Tirado

Paranormal, Teen Fiction Review 0

Burn Down, Rise Up

by Vincent Tirado

Sourcebooks Fire, 2022. 338 pages.
Review written November 28, 2022, from my own copy, picked up at ALA Annual Conference.
2023 Pura Belpré Award Winner

Burn Down, Rise Up is a scary paranormal novel set in the Bronx. It starts with a kid frantic, raving about breaking the rules of the game. He’s got black rot coming out of him and fights off a nurse and breaks out of the hospital.

That nurse is Raquel’s Mom, and she starts getting the black rot in her own lungs and gets put into a medically-induced coma. But at school Raquel’s friend Charlize is mourning her cousin who went missing.

Raquel, Charlize, Aaron, and Mario — all friends who used to spend time together, start researching and discover a Train Challenge, also known as the Echo Game. You go into your local subway at 3:00 am, follow certain rules including staying on the train until 4:00 am. If you turn around or get off, you’re going to get caught in the Echo.

In the Bronx, the Echo takes them back to the 70s, when the Bronx burned down because of slumlords not caring about their tenants. It’s a hellscape, with wounded dead people wandering around. If you attract their attention, they attack. Charlize thinks she sees her cousin and gets off the train. So then Charlize goes missing as well — just as Raquel realizes she’s attracted to her.

The idea is imaginative — an internet challenge that risks your life. I learned a lot about the Bronx in the 70s — and many horrible things that happened because of racism.

Now, I personally, like the rules of magic to be well-defined and understandable, and this didn’t really fit that. I wasn’t quite sure how Raquel figured out what she should try to do to save the people she loved. But I was sure that Raquel was in great danger and wouldn’t lose without a fight.

Amazingly, this is a debut novel. I think it’s a sign of great things to come.

v-e-tirado.com

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Review of Compound Fracture, by Andrew Joseph White

Contemporary, Paranormal, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Compound Fracture

by Andrew Joseph White

Peachtree Teen, 2024. 371 pages.
Review written November 19, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

I have gone back and forth many times as to whether to review this book. The folks who like the books I usually review shouldn’t take for granted that they’ll like this one. But let me say: The writing is stellar. The fact that I’ve been thinking about the book all day the day after I finished it says much about it.

My problem with the book? Well, it felt like a step too far when the protagonist’s friend was planning premeditated murder. It was justified! – and I didn’t like that either.

Now, the author walks the line with this incredibly well. Our protagonist is responsible for more than one death, but is not guilty of murder. And the book doesn’t end well for anyone who is guilty of murder. But there’s horrific violence here. And efforts that have been made to peacefully or politically overcome the bad guys – represented by the sheriff in this West Virginia county – are what ticks off that horrific violence. I feel like the message is: Sometimes the only way to overcome violence is with violence. And I don’t like that message or agree with it – even if it’s satisfying to see the evil ones lose in a fictional setting. (Not that the good folks aren’t traumatized along the way – I did warn you!)

The book has a wonderful sense of place, too, with pictures of coal miners on the endpapers. Miles Abernathy’s family has lived in Twist Creek County, West Virginia, for generations, and his great-great-grandfather led a coal miners’ strike – and was executed by the sheriff – the ancestor of the current sheriff – by hammering a railroad spike through his mouth.

As the book opens, Miles writes an email for his parents, telling them he’s trans, and then heads to a high school graduation party to show his friend Cooper photographic evidence he got from his dad’s safe that Sheriff Davies was the one responsible for the accident that caused Cooper’s mother’s death and Miles’ dad’s disability. Okay, that sentence was too long – but the book starts with Miles trying to do something for justice.

And that doesn’t end well. Miles gets brutally beaten and left for dead by the sheriff’s son and his two friends. In the hospital later, when Sheriff Davies talks to him, he has to pretend to have forgotten everything. But then in an encounter with one of his attackers, the other boy accidentally falls, hits his head, and dies. It was an accident, but Miles has no evidence – so Cooper helps him hide the body in the old mine. And from there… well, let’s just say that things escalate.

The author writes a letter at the front of the book, even while writing it hoping he’ll be able to change it before the book was published, but sad that he hasn’t been able to. Here’s part of that letter:

Instead, I have to write about how tough it is to be trans in America right now. By the time Compound Fracture is released, I’ll be twenty-six years old, and I’ll have seen bathroom bills, state-sponsored attempts to remove trans kids from supportive parents, crackdowns on gender-related care, and so much more. And if you’re disabled on top of it? Christ.

I guess what I’m saying is, I’m sorry it’s so difficult. We shouldn’t have to fight so hard to exist. We deserve better.

But, of course, this is a book about fighting as hard as you can. So please note that we’re going to deal with some difficult topics: graphic violence including police violence, transphobia, opioid use and withdrawal, and disturbing images. This is a book about an autistic, queer trans kid who loves his family and all the people who love him back . . . as well as all the people who want him dead. Actually, this book is kind of like moonshine. It’s gonna burn like hell going down….

If I promise you that this book has a happy ending, does that make it better? Does that make any of it easier to swallow?

And typing out that note reminds me of things I love about the book. Miles is a fully fleshed-out character and a great portrayal of an autistic, queer trans kid dealing with hard things as best he can. Another thing I love is the community portrayed in this book. There are loving parents also going through hard things, and in the end the whole community stands for what’s right.

But it’s a hard story along the way. And let me say again: Although it feels therapeutic to read about triumphing over hateful violence with violence, please don’t try this at home! I personally believe that nonviolence is more powerful in the long run.

But if this book can shine light on the injustice of targeting people who speak up against abuses of power? If it can show you a trans kid just trying to live his life (and the lovely imperfect way his family responds to his coming out)? – Then it’s doing good work.

Whatever else you think of it, this story will stick with you.

andrewjosephwhite.com

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Review of Our Crooked Hearts, by Melissa Albert

Paranormal, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Our Crooked Hearts

by Melissa Albert

Flatiron Books, 2022. 340 pages.
Review written November 21, 2022, from a library book
Starred Review

This book is dark and haunting, and marvelously well-woven. The story has two threads: some chapters set in “The suburbs, Right now” and others set in “The city, Back then.”

The book begins in the suburbs right now with Ivy. She’s going home from a party with Nate, and she just broke up with him, but got into the car before she realized he was drunk. So when they swerve off the road after almost hitting an ethereal naked girl, she only admits to her busted lip and not the strange visitation.

But the next morning, Nate’s got a similar bruise on his face. More disturbing is the decapitated rabbit on their driveway. But when Ivy’s mother buries the rabbit and takes the teeth, Ivy starts wondering what’s going on.

But the chapters in the city back then are about Ivy’s mother, Dana, and her friend Fee. They discovered that magic is real. But when another girl, Marion, gets into their circle, she wants to take things deeper and darker.

As the reader progresses through the book, we gradually find out what happened back then and how it’s impacting what’s happening now. And the chances are high that the impact won’t be a good thing.

It adds up to a haunting novel about magic and motherhood, identity and memory. With lots of sinister moments.

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Review of This Wicked Fate, by Kalynn Bayron

Paranormal, Teen Fiction Review 0

This Wicked Fate

by Kalynn Bayron

Bloomsbury, 2022. 310 pages.
Review written November 13, 2022, from a library book

This Wicked Fate is the second book about Briseis, a descendant of Hecate, one of the Greek gods. In the course of her battle in the first book with descendants of Jason, one of her two mothers was killed. By the same descendant of Jason who years ago killed her birth mother, the descendant of the goddess.

But Hecate can keep her mother safe for one cycle of the moon. So in this book, Bri and her allies and relatives are working to complete an impossible task — collect the last piece of the Heart of Absyrtus.

If that sounds like the plot of a Rick Riordan book, it did to me, too. I think it’s safe to say that if you enjoy the Rick Riordan books, you’ll enjoy this one, too. The main difference being these characters are older teens, most of them are black, and the romances are between women.

Although there are life-or-death stakes, the story reads as light-hearted and fun. I like Briseis powers — she can command plants, make them grow, and is unaffected by any poisonous plant. Two of her allies have become immortal from previous encounters with the Heart.

But they face many obstacles learning where the remaining piece of the Heart is, getting there, and bringing the pieces together. And of course there’s a deadline with the cycle of the moon, and others who want to get there first.

I wasn’t tremendously invested in the characters, which might be simply because I hadn’t read the first book. But I did enjoy reading the story and liked seeing a brainy Black girl triumph in an action-packed adventure tale.

kalynnbayron.com
bloomsbury.com

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Review of Echoes of Grace, by Guadalupe García McCall

Paranormal, Teen Fiction Review 0

Echoes of Grace

by Guadalupe García McCall

Tu Books (Lee & Low), 2022. 375 pages.
Review written November 5, 2022, from a library book

This was a hard book to read, yet a lyrical and powerful one.

Grace and her sister Mercy live near the border in Texas with their father, their abuela, and Mercy’s little boy Alexander. But right at the beginning, when Grace is supposed to be watching Alexander, he runs out into traffic and is killed.

But Grace keeps on seeing him. He follows her around as she goes about her day, as he did before. And this goes with the Echoes that Grace sees, strange visions and otherworldly people. Her mother and grandmother had visions like that, but her family isn’t very patient about them, and her sister hates her because of Alexander’s death.

And while Grace is coping with everything life is throwing at her, she also remembers what happened three years earlier, when she went to Mexico and stayed with her mother’s mother. This was after her mother was killed nine years before that. The chapters alternate, leading up to an awful event.

But why did her mother never tell them that their grandmother was alive? And why is Grace only now remembering what happened? And how does it relate to the visions of her mother that keep popping up in disturbing ways?

This book is not about sweetness and light. But it is about love and power and carrying on.

ggmccall.com
leeandlow.com

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Review of Time and Time Again, by Chatham Greenfield

Science Fiction, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Time and Time Again

by Chatham Greenfield

Bloomsbury, 2024. 327 pages.
Review written November 6, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

This is a time loop novel. Instead of taking us through how Phoebe figures out she’s in a time loop, this book starts on Version 26 of her August 6th. She has the same breakfast with her mom, walks to her dad’s house, plays Scrabble and eats his chicken parmesan and then goes to sleep with her Irritable Bowel Syndrome acting up, because the time she told her dad she couldn’t eat it, she hurt his feelings and it wasn’t worth it.

But every day on the way to her dad’s house, she sees her childhood best friend Jess drive by, and they exchange a look. Phoebe analyzes the look, but doesn’t know what to make of it, and starts thinking of that as the brightest spot of her (repeated) day.

And then one of the repeated days, she’s not paying attention and walks in front of Jess’s car. Jess hits Phoebe, and comes out of her car, very much alarmed. Phoebe isn’t hurt, but it’s a dramatic change from the other days. And then the next day, Jess remembers that it happened! Before long, it becomes apparent that Jess has been pulled into the time loop, too. Jess is appalled that Phoebe has been doing the same thing every day, so she decides to show Phoebe how to have fun.

And then the two girls fall in love – or rather both realize that they already had a crush on each other. It’s beautifully done, since they have all the time in the world. But we see the progression of shared moments and plans to brighten each other’s days.

Now, in any speculative fiction novel, I’m picky about how the magic (or “science”) works. But I do tend to suspend my criticism for time loop novels, because it’s such a fun story idea. However, I have to say the biggest challenge is how they come out of the loop and what the repercussions are. And does it help the whole thing make any sense? For me, that was where this novel fell short and I didn’t really buy how it worked at the end. That said, I still loved reading this – it’s a charming romance between a fat girl with IBS and a girl who is disabled. Because no, those aren’t the most important things about either one. And I love the way their romance builds on their childhood friendship and how each one fills in encouragement when the other one needs it. So no matter how you feel about the time loop, this is a delightful romance.

chatgreenfield.com

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Review of The Lost Dreamer, by Lizz Huerta, read by Elisa Melendez and Inés del Castillo

Audiobooks, Fantasy, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Lost Dreamer

by Lizz Huerta
read by Elisa Melendez and Inés del Castillo

Macmillan Audio, 2022. 10 hours, 52 minutes.
Review written November 5, 2022, from a library eaudiobook

The Lost Dreamer says on Amazon that it’s book one of a duology, so fair warning that there’s not much resolution at the end of this book — it feels like half of a story.

But what we do have is full of rich world-building. Chapters alternate between two different teenage girls. Both of them are dreamers — at night, they experience “The Dream,” a world inhabited by spirits, where they learn truths about the waking world. When someone dies, they say they “returned to the Dream.”

Indir, the first featured character, is part of a family of Dreamers, and she serves at the Temple of Night in the capital city. But after she dreams to answer a question for the king on his deathbed, her ability to enter the Dream disappears. Is she still a Dreamer? And then when the new king brings fire warriors to the city and seems hostile to Dreamers, they all fear that he’s ushering in chaos.

Our alternating featured character is Saya. Nobody knows she’s a dreamer, because her mother won’t allow her to tell anyone. In fact, her mother uses Saya’s gift to act as a seer in the villages where they travel. But Saya begins to want to come into her own.

Both of the girls’ stories increase in danger. The way they come together toward the end of the book surprised me.

The Dream is fantastical, and both characters spend plenty of time there. The author does a good job conveying how the Dream and the world about it works. As well as making us worry about what’s coming to that world.

lizzhuerta.com

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Review of Sunrise Nights, by Jeff Zentner and Brittany Cavallaro

Audiobooks, Contemporary, Romance, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Sunrise Nights

by Jeff Zentner and Brittany Cavallaro
read by Alexandra Hunter and Michael Crouch

Quill Tree Books, 2024. 7 hours, 28 minutes.
Review written October 30, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Sunrise Nights is a sweet young adult romance described by the publisher as a “novel in verse and dialogue.” Since I was listening to it, I didn’t realize the verse was there until I got to a few spots that were artistically poetry. Most of the book read as the girl and the boy describing their night.

And the book takes place during three all-night parties at the end of a summer camp for the arts. Florence is there for dance, and Jude is there for photography. They don’t meet until the last night – Sunrise Night – of their first year in the program. They go out on the town, and they hit it off in ways that are delightful to witness. Then they make a pact not to contact each other until the next Sunrise Night the following year.

Their first night together, Jude has a girlfriend. So that keeps them both from acknowledging their attraction. The second Sunrise Night, Florence has a boyfriend. But, well, the discussion between the two of them makes her rethink that.

And still, despite Jude saying he’s not going to let a simple misunderstanding make this like a teen rom com, they still don’t talk about their attraction until the third Sunrise Night.

I like that Florence and Jude are nuanced characters. Florence is losing her ability to dance because she has a deteriorating eye condition that destroys her balance. Jude is the first person besides her parents that she’s talked with about it. Jude has OCD that is undiagnosed until he takes Florence’s suggestion to see a therapist. He only knows the first year that his thoughts spiral. He’s also hurting because his parents recently split up, and he’s afraid that he drives away love.

It all adds up to a sweet story of two teens who are open with one another and find a listening ear when they need it most. But then they go a year between these times of connection. Which builds exactly the right amount of romantic tension.

jeffzentnerbooks.com
brittanycavallaro.com

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