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 |
The book that wouldn't burn by Mark Lawrence and a reread of the murderbot diaries.
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