Give the Dark My Love

July 15, 2018
An unassuming country girl wages battle against a deadly plague.Nedra Brysstain, an identical twin and the olive-skinned, black-haired daughter of a humble book peddler, leaves her quiet life in a rural village to attend a prestigious private school on scholarship. Under the tutelage of the enigmatic Master Ostrum, Nedra studies medicinal alchemy--a method of transferring patients' pain through a crucible into another living creature (usually a rat). Though studious, Nedra falls for her classmate, handsome and affluent Greggori Astor. A plague known as the Wasting Death, thought to only affect the impoverished, is decimating the working poor and deepening an already precarious political rift. As the numbers of the dead increase, Nedra's temperament shifts from empathetic to angry. When those close to her fall ill, Nedra must make a terrible choice, turning to necromancy in hopes of ending the plague and saving those she loves. Her transformation from a poor provincial girl to a fierce commander is transfixing; her choices may be fraught, but her risk-taking is thrilling. Although the central romance is hetero, secondary characters are queer. Revis' (A World Without You, 2016, etc.) epic is a bit uneven, rambling at times but keeping pages flying at others. Pacing aside, expect this complex and atmospheric mix of fantasy, family secrets, and political intrigue to have strong crossover appeal. Characters are assumed white.An ambitious series opener with promise. (Dark fantasy. 13-adult)

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November 5, 2018
The Wasting Death plague is ravaging northern Lunar Island, so when local teenager Nedra Brysstain receives a scholarship to study medicinal alchemy at Yugen Academy, she’s elated. Nedra will miss home, but the possibility of learning something that could save her loved ones is worth the sacrifice. Nedra’s fellow students scorn her rustic roots, but curmudgeonly department chair Phillious Ostrum respects her dedication and collaborates with Nedra to find a remedy. As the epidemic intensifies and nears Nedra’s village, she eschews romance with classmate Greggori in favor of a grueling daily cycle of research and hospital rounds. Evidence suggests that the forbidden art of necromancy may hold the key to a cure, but is Nedra willing to defy the laws of man and nature to test that theory? First in a duology, this twisty, macabre fantasy from Revis (A World Without You) employs keen character work, thoughtful worldbuilding, and an intelligent plot to advocate for compassion, community service, and accessible healthcare. The arbitrary closing cliffhanger shocks more than it satisfies, but invested readers will hunger for a sequel. Ages 12–up.

August 1, 2018
Grades 7-10 Nedra, who dreams of being an alchemist, has just earned a scholarship to the prestigious and expensive Yugen Alchemical Academy. She's leaving everything she knows behind for the hopes of a brighter future for herself and her home, which is ravaged by a plague called the Wasting Death. Soon she meets Greggori Astor, a highborn alchemy student who's trying hard not to become his politically manipulative father. The two have a brief romance, but the spread of the plague changes all their plans. Frustrated with the emperor's lack of action to solve the problem, and desperate for a cure, Nedra turns to the diaries of famous rebel leader Wellbourne, a man who raised the dead to make an army. She'll do the same if she has to, and not even Greggori can stop her. The prologue, dated in the present day, gives a tantalizing look at where Nedra is likely to end up, enticing readers to continue on. This fully realized novel, the first in a duology, is worth purchasing for any collection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2018
When Nedra leaves home for Y�gen Academy to study medical alchemy, she's most focused on curing the Wasting Death, a plague that begins with blackened necrotic extremities, only sometimes responding to the amputation of the affected limb. Her teacher Master Ostrum encourages her interest, and she throws herself into work at the quarantine hospital, drawing patients' pain into rats using her golden crucible, but she's no closer to finding answers until Master Ostrum suggests she look into the Fourth Alchemy: necromancy. Necromancy is taboo, but when Y�gen Academy shuts down and Nedra goes home to find her family dying, the strictures against her trying the Fourth Alchemy seem suddenly irrelevant. Horror fans will appreciate the gruesome appeal of disease, amputations, and death, and when Revis (Across the Universe, rev. 3/11, and sequels) starts to crank up the pressure, Nedra's forbidden choices become more and more resonant. The mangled revenants that Nedra ends up creating have an originality that steers the tale clear of tired tropes, but it is Nedra's connection with her twin sister, and the frightening transformations she works on her, that will bring the true pit-of-the-stomach queasiness of the situation home to Revis's appalled and fascinated readers. anita l. burkam

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2019
Medical alchemy student Nedra seeks a cure for the Wasting Death. When she finds her family dying of the disease, the strictures against the Fourth Alchemy--necromancy--seem suddenly irrelevant. Revis's original take on the undead steers clear of tired tropes, but it's Nedra's connection with her twin sister, and the frightening transformations she works on her, that bring home the true queasiness of this horror tale.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)