(2) YA In this prequel to Pet (rev. 11/19), teenage Bitter (the mother of that book's protagonist) agonizes, from the safety of her arts boarding school, over whether her art and survival are morally sufficient answers to the violence and inequalities in her city, while her friends work on the dangerous front lines of protest and community response. When an act of police brutality pushes Bitter from crippling anxiety to rage, she paints--and ­summons--a living angel. It and other angels, ­summoned by other students, dismiss protest in favor of slaughter in their quest to free the city of "­monsters." In contrast to the secretive violence of Pet, Bitter's ­confrontations are explosive and overt, and the setting is sharpened with real-world references, including modern protest language. The novel raises painfully complicated questions about responsibility, violence, and vengeance, though readers of Pet will know the answers: two decades on, it's clear that the angels' ruthlessness largely (if imperfectly) worked. This installment, accomplished in its use of uneasily surreal language, is at its strongest when depicting the hugely effective angels and Bitter's own emotional through line as she tries to balance justified fear and desire for safety against moral ­obligation.

Reviewer: Anne St. John | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2022

(2) YA In a haunting work of speculative fiction incorporating African diaspara cultural markers, adolescent Jam (a transgender hearing person who communicates selectively, using both sign language and vocal speech) lives in a utopian town now free of "monsters" (oppressors and manifestations of evil). When a creature in one of her mother's paintings comes to life, Jam learns that it's hunting a monster--a monster that lives in Jam's best friend's house. The plot moves steadily as Jam investigates the creature's claims, and the story intensifies to a startling climax.

Reviewer: Elisa Gall | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2019