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Book Review: The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He

Cover art for The Ones We're Meant to Find by Joan He

 

The Ones We’re Meant to Find  by Joan He

Roaring Book Press, 2021

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250258564

Available: Hardcover, audiobook, Kindle edition ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

 

 

Every time I thought I had this book figured out, it took me in an unexpected direction.

 

There are two alternating plotlines. First, we are introduced to Cee. Cee is trapped on a deserted island, with few memories but with an urgent feeling that she must get off the island and find her sister Kay..

 

Then we meet Kasey, living in a climate-ravaged world. At sixteen, Kasey is a scientific genius who works for the government office responsible for finding solutions for human survival. The living situation is desperate. The most privileged individuals live in eco cities in the air, where they are required to spend much of their time in stasis, participating in life virtually, as a cleaner option than that available to those with pollution karma. Even this is becoming unsustainable, and Kasey is part of the bureaucracy trying to find a solution quickly, as weather and radiation worsen dramatically, killing millions. Yet even in this desperate state there is debate over whether it’s worth it to survive without freedom and self-determination, or in some cases, at all. As this situation continues, Kasey is also searching for her sister, Celia, a free spirit, who disappeared at sea and is believed dead.

 

There is a really slow start and neither Cee or Kasey start out as deeply emotional, but the puzzle is intriguing and He does a great job bringing both worlds to life. This book is really going to disturb some people but there are some interesting ethical and scientific debates being explored and the choices the primary characters make are often unexpected. It’s not what one expects from typical horror, but it isn’t a title that readers will forget soon.

 

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on December 5, 2022 by , Reply

Book Review: Extasia by Claire Legrand

Extasia by Claire Legrand

Extasia by Claire Legrand

Katherine Tegen Books, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062696632

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

( Bookshop.org |  Amazon.com )

 

Extasia is a fiercely feminist dark novel of a post-apocalyptic community drenched in patriarchy and cult-like violent misogyny straight from The Crucible and Year of the Witching. The dogma is that women were responsible for the destruction of the world and thus four young girls are honored with the “sacred duty” of becoming saints, scapegoats who once a month face brutal mob violence from the community in order to expiate their sins. A serial killer has been murdering men, and the upcoming sainthood of Amity Barrow is expected to bless the community and end the killing. When the murders continue, Amity and her sister saints realize they must find a way to either solve the murders or escape. Just as things seem desperate, she is transported with her sister saints to a secret world, Avazel, and invited to join a coven and learn to wield the magical, dark power of extasia to end the killings and realize her own strength… but there’s more going on under the surface than she knows.

 

Extasia is visceral, violent, and disturbing in its intensity, but Amity is not completely isolated. She develops imperfect but strong relationships with girls and women from her community and the coven that survive even significant disagreements. While it’s somewhat heavy-handed, Legrand has outdone herself in creating a dark, powerful, horror story made even more terrible by the foundation of lies, grisly violence, and hate on which human survival after the apocalypse has been built..Recommended for ages 16+

 

Contains: violence to and killing of animals, attempted rape, torture, gore, murder, body horror, violence, gaslighting, religious trauma.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on March 7, 2022 by , Reply

Book Review: The Book of Living Secrets by Madeline Roux


The Book of Living Secrets by Madeline Roux

Quill Tree Press, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062941428

Available:  Preorder (available March 8) hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

So many readers wish they could enter the worlds of their favorite books. The Book of Living Secrets will make them think twice.

 

Adelle and Connie have been best friends for years, and they are both obsessed with an obscure romance novel set in the Victorian era titled Moira, which tells the story of  a wealthy Boston socialite who shares a forbidden love with Severin, an impoverished artist. Moira, already engaged to Kincaid, who is also of her social class, involves her loyal friend Orla in her intrigues to meet Severin. One night, Adelle convinces Connie to visit an occult shop and participate in a spell that will send them into Moira. Separated into different parts of the book, the two girls discover that the romantic world they immersed themselves in is only a small part of a much larger, nightmarish world, and that the characters in the book they read are much different in person. The secondary and background characters have interior lives, feelings, and motivations that are never examined in the book, but take center stage as Adelle and Connie attempt to repair the interdimensional rifts creating a doorway for elder gods to pass through that they created by traveling into the book, and restore the characters’ world, before returing to their own.

 

The Book of Living Secrets creatively critiques tropes of portal fantasy, romance fiction, and fandom, while exploring identity and relationships. Madeline Roux has written a gripping, imaginative, if sometimes predictable, tale that teenagers will enjoy. Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on February 3, 2022 by , Reply
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