At last, a conclusion!
The fourth and final volume of the Last Magician series is finally here, and it’s another doorstopper. Most secondary characters from the second and third volumes have fallen by the wayside, leaving Viola, Jianyu, and Nibsy/James from the Bowery gang the Devil’s Own; primary leads Esta and Harte; and love interests Cela and Ruby, plus villain Jack. Time-hopping continues as Esta and Harte are transported to a changed 1983 in which the White supremacist, anti-magic Brotherhoods have only grown in power, while the rest of the gang continue in 1902, where Jack (last seen being killed in 1920) is alive and plotting. The short chapters contribute to the stop-and-go pacing. The plot is drawn out by foolish mistakes by the protagonists and padded by a lot of time spent kissing deeply, while the villains are the kind who spend pages internally gloating over their evil plots and seem unstoppable until a massive deus ex machina saves the day. What started off in the first volume, 2017’s The Last Magician, as a sharp look at issues of the past and present through an imaginative premise has petered out by this point, and the characters from marginalized backgrounds are so lacking in depth as to approach being caricatures.
For completists only. (Historical fantasy. 12-adult)Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5344-3251-2
Page Count: 528
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2022
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | FANTASY | HISTORICAL FANTASY
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A tale that’s at once familiar and full of odd and unexpected twists—vintage King, in other words.
10
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Narnia on the Penobscot: a grand, and naturally strange, entertainment from the ever prolific King.
What’s a person to do when sheltering from Covid? In King’s case, write something to entertain himself while reflecting on what was going on in the world outside—ravaged cities, contentious politics, uncertainty. King’s yarn begins in a world that’s recognizably ours, and with a familiar trope: A young woman, out to buy fried chicken, is mashed by a runaway plumber’s van, sending her husband into an alcoholic tailspin and her son into a preadolescent funk, driven “bugfuck” by a father who “was always trying to apologize.” The son makes good by rescuing an elderly neighbor who’s fallen off a ladder, though he protests that the man’s equally elderly German shepherd, Radar, was the true hero. Whatever the case, Mr. Bowditch has an improbable trove of gold in his Bates Motel of a home, and its origin seems to lie in a shed behind the house, one that Mr. Bowditch warns the boy away from: “ ‘Don’t go in there,’ he said. ‘You may in time, but for now don’t even think of it.’ ” It’s not Pennywise who awaits in the underworld behind the shed door, but there’s plenty that’s weird and unexpected, including a woman, Dora, whose “skin was slate gray and her face was cruelly deformed,” and a whole bunch of people—well, sort of people, anyway—who’d like nothing better than to bring their special brand of evil up to our world’s surface. King’s young protagonist, Charlie Reade, is resourceful beyond his years, but it helps that the old dog gains some of its youthful vigor in the depths below. King delivers a more or less traditional fable that includes a knowing nod: “I think I know what you want,” Charlie tells the reader, "and now you have it”—namely, a happy ending but with a suitably sardonic wink.
A tale that’s at once familiar and full of odd and unexpected twists—vintage King, in other words.Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66800-217-9
Page Count: 608
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
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PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
PERSPECTIVES
Crowds gather across the United States for the launch of Death-Cast, a company that promises to change the world by predicting the deaths of everyone who subscribes in this prequel to They Both Die at the End (2017).
Orion Pagan, an aspiring author with a heart condition, hopes his phone won’t ring at midnight, but he knows Death-Cast’s call is coming soon. Unlike Orion, Valentino Prince, a model on the verge of his national debut, has no reason to anticipate Death-Cast’s call and isn’t sure if he believes the company’s claims. By coincidence or fate, their lives collide at a party in Times Square, and a single, historic phone call alters the courses of their futures. This heart-pounding story follows the final day of the first Decker, or person who is going to die, and the national chaos of Death-Cast’s premiere. Silvera crafts a web of intricately interconnected character perspectives and conflicts around Orion and Valentino. Apart from Valentino and his twin sister, who are presumed White, most of the characters are Latine, including White-passing Orion, whose family is Puerto Rican. The story confronts heavy topics like grief, abuse, and religious faith with complexity and care. Despite the presumed inevitability of a fatal end to the central romance between Orion and Valentino, Silvera subverts the trope of punishing gay characters with violent tragedy. Familiarity with the original book provides additional context and depth but isn’t essential to understanding the plot.
A rush of emotion and suspense. (Speculative fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-324080-3
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
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