Previous SFF Author: Colson Whitehead
Kiersten White is the New York Times bestselling author of the PARANORMALCY trilogy, the MIND GAMES series, The Chaos of Stars, Illusions of Fate, In the Shadows with artist Jim Di Bartolo, and And I Darken. Kiersten lives with her family in San Diego, California. Visit her at www.kierstenwhite.com.
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And I Darken by Kiersten White
We first meet Lada Dragwyla at the tender age of two years old. She is brandishing a knife. At her father. No scene could more succinctly introduce the character of our heroine: she is brutal, fierce, bordering on sociopathic. Kiersten White explained that And I Darken tells the story as if Vlad the Impaler had been born female, and what she has created is one of the most exciting and original characters in fiction that’s been seen in a very long time.
Ray McKenzie´s rating: 5 | Kiersten White | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 6 comments |
And I Darken bought us some of the best characters YA has seen in a long time: Lada Dracul, the fearsome terror of a little girl, and her gentle brother Radu. Defying stereotypes of gender, race and religion, as well as the predictable tropes of the genre itself, And I Darken was a FanLit fave of last year. Lada and Radu make their return in the follow-up, Now I Rise (2017), but can the sequel live up to its dazzling predecessor?
Ray McKenzie´s rating: 3 | Kiersten White | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White
We all know Frankenstein: the evil genius, the monster, the frozen wasteland etc. But in The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein (2018), Kiersten White offers a new spin on the classic, through an origins story that traces Victor Frankenstein right back to his childhood, through the eyes of an unlikely heroine, Elizabeth Frankenstein.
We meet Elizabeth when her surname is still Lavenza. She is starved and bruised and about to be thrown out onto the streets,
Ray McKenzie´s rating: 2.5 | Kiersten White | Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | no comments |
According to whom you ask, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is either a campy, inexplicably popular teen drama from the 90s, or it’s some of the best television ever made. Not to say that the show can’t be both, because in fact it is. The karate kicks and monster makeup one step up from Halloween masks were corny even for the time, and I for one would never have expected a show with such a — let’s face it — silly premise to acquire a fan following so strong that it has persisted for over twenty years.
Tim Scheidler´s rating: 4 | Kiersten White | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White
At this point, I think the teen heartthrob version of King Arthur might be displacing the venerable monarch version. Between that BBC Merlin series, Avalon High, and the seemingly never-ending Mordred in Leather Pants novels that just keep coming and coming like my own personal karmic retribution, people just seem to have a lot of interest in Young Arthur lately. It’s probably a symptom of our youth-obsessed culture or something. I tell you, back in the good old days,
Tim Scheidler´s rating: 3.5 | Kiersten White | Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
Hide: The Graphic Novel by Kiersten White (original author), Scott Peterson (adaptation), Veronica Fish (artist), and Andy Fish (artist)
Hide: The Graphic Novel is an adaptation of a prose novel that I have not read, so I cannot comment on the accuracy of the translation from one art form to another. However, I think Hide: The Graphic Novel stands well on its own. I only knew that this was a horror comic going in, and that was enough to interest me. The plot is an intriguing one: Fourteen strangers are competing for a $50,000 prize.
Brad Hawley´s rating: 4.5 | Kiersten White | Comics, Horror, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Previous SFF Author: Colson Whitehead
What a perceptive and beautiful review. You make it clear that Yamada not only knows the story she wants to…
Read together with The Serpent Mage, the series is one of the best works of art out there. The main…
thanks for this really well-written review. You've definitely piqued my interest in this, particularly in how you highlight the still…
Thanks for the kind words, Ira! Much appreciated!
Fine review