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Impressions: The City Beautiful

Series: N/A; Standalone Author: Aden Polydoros Author Website: https://adenpolydoros.com Trigger Warnings: Homophobia, anti-semitism Year Released: 2021 Demographic: Young Adult Genres/Subgenres: Gothic fantasy, mystery, paranormal, historical fiction, LGBT

Synopsis: From the author’s website:

“Death lurks around every corner in this unforgettable Jewish historical fantasy about a city, a boy, and the shadows of the past that bind them both together.

Chicago, 1893. For Alter Rosen, this is the land of opportunity, and he dreams of the day he’ll have enough money to bring his mother and sisters to America, freeing them from the oppression they face in his native Romania.

But when Alter’s best friend, Yakov, becomes the latest victim in a long line of murdered Jewish boys, his dream begins to slip away. While the rest of the city is busy celebrating the World’s Fair, Alter is now living a nightmare: possessed by Yakov’s dybbuk, he is plunged into a world of corruption and deceit, and thrown back into the arms of a dangerous boy from his past. A boy who means more to Alter than anyone knows.

Now, with only days to spare until the dybbuk takes over Alter’s body completely, the two boys must race to track down the killer—before the killer claims them next.”

Themes

Anti-semitism

Homophobia

The pressure on immigrants to hide their heritage and become fully Americanized

The myth of the American dream and the difficulties of starting over in a new country with no money, resources, or ability to speak English

The inhumane treatment of working class people

Death, grief, and survivor’s guilt

Best Features

The atmospheric descriptions of life in Chicago. The narration provides sensory details about the geography, the locations, and the types of inhabitants. It paints a picture but doesn’t go overboard.

Alter as a main character. He’s proactive, three-dimensional and receives a lot of character development.

Alter’s romantic subplot. The tension, banter, and arguments between Alter and his endgame partner made their interactions entertaining to read.

Raziel, Frankie and Mrs. Brenner as supporting characters. They all have memorable personalities, entertaining dynamics with Alter, and contribute to the plot.

A well-written mystery. Every clue and new lead answers questions and builds up a motive but still keeps the reader wondering until all is revealed.

The well-developed themes. The hard lives of immigrants in America and the pressure to assimilate into American culture. The shame and fear of being open with one’s sexuality because of homophobia. The need to avoid prosecution as a Jewish person with so much unapologetic antisemitism in the world. The author never wastes an opportunity to show how these factors affect the lives and worldview of his characters.

The dybbuk as an antagonist. Yakov’s dybbuk was a constant source of torment and misery for Alter. It did a great job of raising dramatic tension in several parts of the story. Decoding Yakov’s unfinished business through a supernatural entity was riveting.

Worst/Least Appealing Features

The dybbuk takes its sweet time making its first appearance in the story. There is plenty of foreshadowing and buildup but it takes awhile to actually show up.

You might find the lead up to the climax to be a little too long.

Favorite Spoiler-free Quotes:

But you can’t look toward the future when you’re carrying ghosts upon your back.

We’ll never be equals in their eyes. They can grit their teeth and tolerate us, but they’ll never welcome us into their white cities, because ambition becomes something ugly when it has a Jewish face.

“Life was not some never-ending tragedy. Just as for every bitter herb there was sweet charoset, hope and joy persisted alongside suffering. And even someone like me had the ability to change things.”

Overall Rating - 4.5 out of 5

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Impressions

Title: Cinderella is Dead Series: N/A; Standalone Author: Kalynn Bayron Author Website: https://www.kalynnbayron.com/ Trigger Warnings: Nothing major Year Released: 2020 Demographic: Young Adult Genres/Subgenres: Low fantasy, dystopian, fairytale retelling, LGBT, sapphic, romance

Synopsis: From Goodreads:

"It’s 200 years after Cinderella found her prince, but the fairy tale is over. Teen girls are now required to appear at the Annual Ball, where the men of the kingdom select wives based on a girl’s display of finery. If a suitable match is not found, the girls not chosen are never heard from again.

Sixteen-year-old Sophia would much rather marry Erin, her childhood best friend, than parade in front of suitors. At the ball, Sophia makes the desperate decision to flee, and finds herself hiding in Cinderella’s mausoleum. There, she meets Constance, the last known descendant of Cinderella and her step sisters. Together they vow to bring down the king once and for all–and in the process, they learn that there’s more to Cinderella’s story than they ever knew . . .

This fresh take on a classic story will make readers question the tales they’ve been told, and root for girls to break down the constructs of the world around them."

Themes:

The negative impact of propaganda, misogyny, heteronormativity, and classism on society as a whole

Remaining fearful and complacent in the face of injustice won’t always protect you from its effects

Best Features

Sophia and Constance are well-characterized protagonists. They are effective but not overpowered. They have positive traits and likeability but are not perfect. They have agency and their motives make sense given their circumstances.

The sapphic love triangle was well-executed. It features opposites attract vs. birds of a feather and childhood friend romance vs. a newer attraction to a person you just naturally click with. Both romances were believable and showed different sides of the heroine.

The exposition about how the Cinderella system worked and its impact on society was described in great detail while also being well woven into the narrative. It never felt like the story halted to explain anything.

King Manford is an effectively hateable villain with the qualities needed in an antagonist from a fairytale and dystopian story like this one. He’s pretty one-dimensional but not without a few surprises.

Worst/Least Appealing Features

The main heroines are pretty static personality-wise. Their personalities are set in stone from the start and don’t change much. If you’re fine with flat character arcs then it’s no big deal.

The pacing is uneven. Plot progression was either extended periods of action sequences or extended periods of planning and debating the next moves. It was hard to maintain interest in what was going on during the planning periods after so much excitement beforehand.

The supporting cast has little involvement in the plot. They deepen Sophia’s understanding of the world and add depth to its themes and that’s about it.

The world wasn’t very interesting. If I were asked to recall anything distinctive about the city of Lille or the White Wood or anywhere else except the palace I wouldn’t be able to. The descriptions are incredibly threadbare and the locations leave no impression.

Favorite Spoiler-free Quotes:

“The pieces of my dress are sewn into place to ensure a perfect fit. My mother fusses over the color of the piping along the hem of the gown. Apparently, it's supposed to be rose gold, not regular gold, so it has to be taken off and reattached. I think the entire ensemble would look very nice at the bottom of a wastebasket, maybe doused with lamp oil and set on fire. No one asked me what color I'd like it to be or how I'd like it to fit.”

“A mural of the king mars the side of a building across the street. He's pictured on a horse at the head of an army of soldiers, his arm outstretched, holding a sword. I bet he's never led an army anywhere except across the squares of a chessboard.”

"My mother taught me that I am a whole person with or without a husband," she says emphatically. "Who I am inside and how I treat others are the only things that matter. The same goes for you. Don't let anybody tell you different."

Overall Rating - 3 out of 5

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Impressions: The Taking of Jake Livingston

Title: The Taking of Jake Livingston Series: N/A; Standalone Author: Ryan Douglass Author Website: https://ryandouglasswriter.com/ Trigger Warnings: Suicide, homophobia, sexual assault, active shootings, murder, physical abuse, bullying Year Released: 2021 Demographic: Young Adult Genres/Subgenres: Horror, Thriller, Paranormal, Ghosts, LGBTQ+

Trailer:

Synopsis:

From Goodreads

"Get Out meets Holly Jackson in this YA social thriller where survival is not a guarantee.

Sixteen-year-old Jake Livingston sees dead people everywhere. But he can't decide what's worse: being a medium forced to watch the dead play out their last moments on a loop or being at the mercy of racist teachers as one of the few Black students at St. Clair Prep. Both are a living nightmare he wishes he could wake up from. But things at St. Clair start looking up with the arrival of another Black student—the handsome Allister—and for the first time, romance is on the horizon for Jake.

Unfortunately, life as a medium is getting worse. Though most ghosts are harmless and Jake is always happy to help them move on to the next place, Sawyer Doon wants much more from Jake. In life, Sawyer was a troubled teen who shot and killed six kids at a local high school before taking his own life. Now he's a powerful, vengeful ghost and he has plans for Jake. Suddenly, everything Jake knows about dead world goes out the window as Sawyer begins to haunt him. High school soon becomes a different kind of survival game—one Jake is not sure he can win."

Themes

Effects of bullying

Homophobia

Racism through microaggressions

Gun violence

Poorly treated mental illness

Parental abuse and neglect

Best Features

A pretty well-paced plot

A fleshed-out protagonist with gradual and believable character development

A menacing and cold-hearted but sympathetic/pitiable villain

A charming and believable MLM romance

Jake's grim, cynical narrative voice vividly details the world of racism, violence, and senseless tragedy he observes

Sawyer's depressing and hopeless narrative voice engenders sympathy but also builds tension and dread for the heinous actions he is destined to take

A fleshed-out power system for Jake as a medium and Sawyer as a vengeful spirit

Worst Features

The supporting cast plays a minimal role in the story

The subplots are few and mostly unimportant

The romantic subplot could have used more scenes. I found their relationship very charming and wished they had interacted more.

Manipulation of ectomist is the source of a lot of medium abilities. The substance might do more than you’re willing to believe that it can.

Favorite Spoiler-free Quotes:

“How many more of our friends do we have to lose before we say ‘enough is enough’? There are demons out there who just want the world to burn. And we have to come together to make sure they can’t get the weapons to harm us.”

“When our hands touch, green light blossoms between our thumbs, curls around our fingers, and spirals up our arms. Like a breath of ivy creating one aura between us. Pink flowers sprout to dress the vine and . . . I can honestly say, in all my years as a medium, I have never seen a garden grow between me and another person.”

“It’s amazing how many people don’t want to look racist and how few care about not actually being it.”

Overall Rating - 3.5 out of 5