Author: laviolet

Half human and half star, Sheetal has struggled to live as a mortal. With human friends, family, and boyfriend, it is difficult for her to hide her nature and abilities, for fear of what would happen should she be discovered. Her only connection the the magical world, her mother, abandoned her and her father both, to return to her own. But when Sheetal’s powers start to become more than she knows how to control, and they hurt her father beyond what her blood can heal, she must go to her mother for aid. In the celestial court, she’s made to enter a competition as champion of her mother’s family, in exchange for drop of blood from a true star.

Thakkar’s prose is vivid and elegant, with fully fleshed out descriptions of the setting and dress of the characters. While it can’t be said that there’s anything groundbreaking about it, a rather cookie cutter YA contemporary fantasy, it still stands out from the crowd. Characterization takes a backseat for worldbuilding and culture, but one would only notice if they were looking. The stereotypical heroine, best friend, and contentious boyfriend are what gives the lofty universe grounding, and a plot.

This book would be best for the younger YA demographic, as older teens may not have the patience for some of the character’s personalities. Late middle school to early high school is when books with clear missions and heroes that they can find both aspirational and relatable have the most appeal. Magical temptations and the attachment to normalcy keep the tension at a manageable level, without making the stakes any higher than they need to be. There is no world-ending catastrophe on the way in a character-driven story like this, where that mismatch can be found to be pervasive elsewhere.

The only drawback is the bland dialogue, which exacerbates the character’s ‘tropeacity’, but the prose and introspection make up for it. The contradiction between setting and dialogue is a symptom of contemporary fantasy, and it is admittedly difficult to walk that line. That alone should not discourage anyone from picking this up as a light, but moving read.

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko is an West African inspired fantasy novel, first in a duology, detailing the journey of Tarisai, a girl raised in seclusion by tutors, at the behest of an absent but enigmatic mother with ulterior motives. She is the result of her mother enslaving an ehru and using a wish from him to assault him, in order to create a child gifted enough to earn a place amount the crown prince’s council. However, she does not want her there for the empire’s benefit, no, she wants her to become one of the only eleven people in the world capable of killing the magically protected prince.

This book is an adventure at breakneck pace. There are no points in reading it that feel like a slog, or even slow at all. Even though there are some flimsy excuses for some plot device’s existence, and some things go underexplained as a result of it, the reader is left too blown away to begrudge it. The interweaving of cultural aesthetics with original world building is masterful, creating a universe that feels both authentic and fresh. While the pace compromises the weight of the characters, the ones who stand out from the large cast leave powerful impressions, and Tarisai has a very strong arc as she struggles with her nature and the person she’s become in spite of it.

Thankfully, the author did not bite off more than she could chew given the wordcount. Every plot device and thread is wrapped up by the end, with the only ones left being the setup for the sequel. Even things that seemed like innocuous bits of side character backstory had major relevance by the end. It led to feeling of genuine satisfaction at the ending.

There is only one thing that I had a genuine problem with, in the entire book. Spoiler warning for the next two paragraphs.

Tarisai and the prince are cousins. This is the largest reveal in book. Her mother wants him and his father dead so that she can claim her brother’s throne. This is simple enough, and perfectly fine, however, there is a subplot that has no right to exist given this. Before this is discovered, Tarisai and the prince’s relationship is constantly characterized by other characters and themselves in a romantic light. This was flat out unnecessary. Their relationship could have gone without the constant suggestions of being anything more, and absolutely nothing would have changed but for removing the incestuous undertones.

The only purpose it served was to set up a love triangle, or if one one was to stretch it, throw in that the prince is asexual, which is the best example of the LGBT representation being rather hamfisted and reserved for side characters with their sexualities being completely irrelevant.

Something that could easily be removed however, does not damn a book that as a whole, is extremely solid and well written. Cohesive and coherent, it was a pleasant read full of vivid imagery, and I would recommend it without hesitation

In the titular article, Mathieu Donner examines the role the adolescent body takes on in fiction directed at adolescents themselves. This is a reflection of the readers, he believes, an early way to introduce critical analysis of the systems that perpetuate the complex and ultimately harmful depictions of the body in other media, directed at both children and adults. He uses examples, such as Rick Yancey’s ‘The 5th Wave‘, or David Leviathan’s ‘Every Day’ to show how characters’ bodies are common metaphors for the socio-cultural issues being addressed within the works. It is within that, through works with supernatural elements specifically, that he takes apart the metaphors inherent to a transformation beyond the ordinary. Especially with books directed at young readers, who are just starting to be ready for heavier topics, they can identify with the disturbia, and recognize why it exists within themselves.

Donner takes a firmly socialist left stance, naming specific systemic issues that create the requirement for deconstruction in text. Performance of gender, race, the distinct traumas inherent to minority oppression. This, through the modicum of the adolescent body, a sensitive subject at best, is how he advocates for broader social change.

While I agree with his ideology, there are a couple of places where he projects thematic significance where it doesn’t belong. ‘Every Day’, though it can fit with the rest, does not have the overt politics of the rest. The premise being that A has no identity of their own, waking up in a new body could just as easily be a shiny new supernatural character design as an exploration of how sovereignty over our bodies and the identities that come with them make us who we are.

Otherwise, Donner constructs his arguments well, using quotations and references throughout, and has a distinct, if broad, message.

Works Cited:

Donner, Mathieu. “Introduction: Reading the Body, Reading (YA) Fiction.” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, vol. 28, no. 3 (100), [Brian Attebery, as Editor, for the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts, International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts], 2017, pp. 339–43, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26508547.

‘Bad Girls with Perfect Faces’ is a book about vapid teenage girls doing horrible things to each other over boys whose only personality traits are ’emotionally unstable’, ‘stupid’, or ‘a catfish’. This leads the main character, Sasha, to cover up the murder of her best friend/unrequited crush’s cheating, manipulative, manic-pixie-dream-girl with an emphasis on the manic, girlfriend, Ivy. She believes that the boy, Xavier, was so drunk/high that he did it, based on flimsy evidence, and is a bad enough person that she pushes him into taking a road trip and stuffs the body in the trunk without his knowledge. She does this in the hopes of disposing of her body in secret, so he doesn’t realize he killed her.

Because that is a terrible plan, he finds out. He tells Sasha that he didn’t kill her, but has absolutely no problem with tossing the corpse that neither of them were responsible for into a lake anyway. Later, they find out that Sasha was tangentially responsible in the most backward way possible. When she catfished Ivy in an attempt to prove to Xavier that she’s a bad person, she was actually talking to Ivy’s friend, who was the one who actually killed her. After she fell in love with the catfish, Ivy decided, because she is a cruel, vindictive harpy, to meet up and sleep with the ‘boy’, just to make her feel bad. This backfires in the most dramatic way possible. It ends with all of the characters being unable to be around each other due to the guilt and fear of being caught, and living separate, miserable lives.

This book is the perfect exemplar of the importance of character likability. Whereas none of the people are even half-decent human beings, or have a singular brain cell between them, they do, however, have very entertaining inner monologues. Though they are not, and should not be, relatable, experiencing their arcs was kind of like watching a multi-car pileup in blissfully slow motion.

All in all, it’s a fun book with an ending that is actually plausible given the course of events. Nothing comes out of left field, everything is fully resolved at the end, which is important for a stand-alone, and only the least likable character dies. It even makes up for the mediocre writing quality and dated jokes.

Legendborn is the first book in a proposed YA modern fantasy trilogy, following Bree Matthews, a sixteen-year-old high school student who gets into a live-in program at the University of North Carolina. After being attacked by a supernatural creature at a party, she resists Selwyn Kane’s Mesmer, or him erasing her memory. Unable to move on while knowing this information, she finds a way in through her peer counselor, Nick Davis. She proceeds to infiltrate a secret society, while incidentally realizing that she had been mesmered once before, in relation to her mother’s death. Armed with questions and seeking answers, Bree delves into a whole new plane of life.

Now, with such a compelling premise, it was slower a read than expected, mostly due to the egregiously long ‘tutorial stage’. The ‘tutorial stage’ is the segment in the beginning portion of fantasy books, especially ones where the MC is dropped in from a mundane life, where the mechanics and laws of supernatural elements are explained so that the reader can follow the plot. In Legendborn, this lasts for half the book. The actual time spent explaining is just fine, it’s the incredibly pointless romance between Bree and Nick that bloats it so. It turns what could have been gotten through in a fifth of the book into half. While their chemistry and banter are natural and entertaining, it doesn’t change the fact that their relationship is oddly placed and disruptive to the pacing.

To elaborate on that, the romantic subplot detracts from every character’s development, the rich and deep lore that comes with the world, and the main plot itself. Deoni introduces many concepts, such as the different magical societies, or that the scions being awakened cuts their lives short, go underexplored for the sake of another scene where Nick and Bree flirt, or Sel threatens her. Bree herself also suffers from it, losing out on expanding on the promising dynamics between her and her family and friends. All that is left out to establish a love triangle between Bree and the two boys. That could be excused if there was anything unique about the romantic subplots, but it’s a tired repeat of the trope. An exceptional girl who is destined to save the world must choose between the human version of a golden retriever and the most petulant edgelord to ever grace the page. It’s a shame because the platonic relationshi[s and setting are full of potential that went underutilized in the first book. I still hold out hope for when the second comes out.

This would be best for younger teens, who haven’t seen the same relationship play out in two dozen other series before. It’s not a bad or unpleasant dynamic, and Deoni does well with it, but I fount that it detracts from the plot threads where her ideas really shine.