by Anne-Laure Bondoux & translated by Y. Maudet ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 2006
This poignant, lyrical story tells of an adult’s discovery of love more than of a child’s growth. Paolo is an unloved child on a desolate farm in southern Chile, whose life unexpectedly takes a turn for the better when Angel Allegria, a ruthless murderer, kills Paolo’s parents merely to steal their home. Angel is unwilling to kill a child, and Paolo’s grave silences touch his rarely used emotions. An unlikely friendship grows between the two, with Angel determined to win Paolo’s love. Other potential father figures—the traveler who teaches Paolo to read, the poetic and literary old lumberjack—compete for Paolo’s affections. Though Angel is redeemed and reborn through his relationship with Paolo, he can’t outrun his past crimes. This spare but emotionally charged story is stylistically adult; the child protagonist acts primarily as an innocent prop to allow Angel’s redemption. Once he enters his own adulthood, Paolo emerges as a fully formed character, a product of the men he met in his youth. A lovely story for the right audience. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-73293-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2006
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by Leigh Bardugo ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 29, 2015
Adolescent criminals seek the haul of a lifetime in a fantasyland at the beginning of its industrial age.
The dangerous city of Ketterdam is governed by the Merchant Council, but in reality, large sectors of the city are given over to gangs who run the gambling dens and brothels. The underworld's rising star is 17-year-old Kaz Brekker, known as Dirtyhands for his brutal amorality. Kaz walks with chronic pain from an old injury, but that doesn't stop him from utterly destroying any rivals. When a councilman offers him an unimaginable reward to rescue a kidnapped foreign chemist—30 million kruge!—Kaz knows just the team he needs to assemble. There's Inej, an itinerant acrobat captured by slavers and sold to a brothel, now a spy for Kaz; the Grisha Nina, with the magical ability to calm and heal; Matthias the zealot, hunter of Grishas and caught in a hopeless spiral of love and vengeance with Nina; Wylan, the privileged boy with an engineer's skills; and Jesper, a sharpshooter who keeps flirting with Wylan. Bardugo broadens the universe she created in the Grisha Trilogy, sending her protagonists around countries that resemble post-Renaissance northern Europe, where technology develops in concert with the magic that's both coveted and despised. It’s a highly successful venture, leaving enough open questions to cause readers to eagerly await Volume 2.
Cracking page-turner with a multiethnic band of misfits with differing sexual orientations who satisfyingly, believably jell into a family . (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62779-212-7
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
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by Stephanie Garber ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 31, 2017
Magic, mystery, and love intertwine and invite in this newest take on the “enchanted circus” trope.
Sisters raised by their abusive father, a governor of a colonial backwater in a world vaguely reminiscent of the late 18th century, Scarlett and Donatella each long for something more. Scarlett, olive-skinned, dark of hair and attitude, longs for Caraval, the fabled, magical circus helmed by the possibly evil Master Legend Santos, while blonde, sunny Tella finds comfort in drink and the embraces of various men. A slightly awkward start, with inconsistencies of attitude and setting, rapidly smooths out when they, along with handsome “golden-brown” sailor Julian, flee to Caraval on the eve of Scarlett’s arranged marriage. Tella disappears, and Scarlett must navigate a nighttime world of magic to find her. Caraval delights the senses: beautiful and scary, described in luscious prose, this is a show readers will wish they could enter. Dresses can be purchased for secrets or days of life; clocks can become doors; bridges move: this is an inventive and original circus, laced with an edge of horror. A double love story, one sensual romance and the other sisterly loyalty, anchors the plot, but the real star here is Caraval and its secrets.
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations. (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-09525-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
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