Featuring 369 Industry-First Reviews of Fiction, Nonfiction, Children'sand YA books KIRKUSVOL. LXXXVIII, NO. 8 | 15 APRIL 2020 REVIEWS from the editor’s desk: Reading Independently Chairman BY KAREN SCHECHNER HERBERT SIMON President & Publisher MARC WINKELMAN # This is the first issue Kirkus has published since COVID-19 closed Chief Executive Officer our Austin headquarters and New York office. It’s also our inaugural Indie MEG LABORDE KUEHN Issue. For readers and writers weathering self- or government-imposed [email protected] Editor-in-Chief isolation, maybe it’s time to experiment with independent publishing, TOM BEER reconsider style or genre, push past procrastination, or collaborate in ways [email protected] Vice President of Marketing that ease feelings of isolation. Or maybe you just want to stop screaming at SARAH KALINA your kids to stop screaming. [email protected] Managing/Nonfiction Editor Independent publishing is in its heyday. An author can upload their ERIC LIEBETRAU book on two platforms, Kindle Direct Publishing and IngramSpark, for [email protected] Fiction Editor Karen Schechner example, and not only distribute it globally, including to nearly every inde- LAURIE MUCHNICK pendent, online, and chain bookstore in the U.S., but do it for under $100. [email protected] Children’s Editor Writers—despite the collective temptations of the internet and the absence of external dead- VICKY SMITH lines—self-pub about 1.7 million books annually; Kirkus reviews more than 4,000 of them. [email protected] Young Adult Editor Indie publishing has a long list of venerables, like Henry David Thoreau, whom we write LAURA SIMEON about in this issue’s “Appreciations” (“Thoreau had trouble getting publishers to bite”). Walt [email protected] Editor at Large Whitman self-pubbed Leaves of Grass, which went through numerous post-publication revi- MEGAN LABRISE sions—a practice that, to this day, is a big benefit of self-publishing. That iconoclastic spirit still [email protected] Vice President of Kirkus Indie fuels indie publishing. KAREN SCHECHNER [email protected] There are no gatekeepers in Indieland. Writers can publish their work on their own timeline Senior Indie Editor and control the entire process—from content to cover to marketing. In this issue, we talk with DAVID RAPP [email protected] several indie writers. Some didn’t want to wait the years it can take to go from finding an agent Indie Editor to final product; others realized that if they wanted to be represented in print, they’d have to do MYRA FORSBERG [email protected] it themselves. Associate Manager of Indie Rosilyn Seay, author of the starred picture book , knew that “she had KATERINA PAPPAS The Girl Who Loved Pots [email protected] some stories to tell, stories that might have too limited a market appeal for traditional publish- Editorial Assistant ers.” She wrote a charmer about an African American girl who transforms everyday items. After JOHANNA ZWIRNER [email protected] a lot of research, Seay realized if she wanted to retain “absolute creative and artistic control,” Mysteries Editor she’d need to do everything—“write, illustrate, obtain an ISBN, copyright, obtain a Library of THOMAS LEITCH Congress number, and find a distributor”—herself. Contributing Editor GREGORY McNAMEE Meenal Patel wrote because it’s Priya Dreams of Marigolds & Masala Copy Editor “critical for kids to be exposed to experiences they can relate to AND expe- BETSY JUDKINS Designer riences that open their eyes to ones that are different from their own.” Her ALEX HEAD starred picture book is a stunner; behold its saffron, pink, and green cover! Director of Kirkus Editorial Queer and trans author Lexie Bean has both tradi- LAUREN BAILEY [email protected] tionally and self-pubbed their work. Their upcoming Production Editor starred middle-grade book, , with a HEATHER RODINO The Ship We Built [email protected] transgender lead, will be published by Dial Books in Website and Software Developer May. “Self-publishing…gave me the foundation and PERCY PEREZ [email protected] reminder that at the end of the day it is still my story,” Advertising Director says Bean. “This is especially important to queer and trans people as well MONIQUE STENSRUD [email protected] as any ‘minority group’; we have to know that we don’t have to rejigger our Advertising Associate truths in order for it to be worth the time and resources for it to get made. TATIANA ARNOLD [email protected] We take the risks before anybody else because we already know that exist- Graphic Designer ing comes with risk.” Read Bean’s essay, “From Self-publishing to Tradi- LIANA WALKER [email protected] tional,” in this issue. Controller Cheers to the creative risk takers, happy reading, and take care. MICHELLE GONZALES [email protected] for customer service Karen Schechner is the vice president of Kirkus Indie. or subscription questions, please call 1-800-316-9361 Print indexes: www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/print-indexes Submission Guidelines: www.kirkusreviews.com/about/submission-guidlines Kirkus Blog: www.kirkusreviews.com/blog Subscriptions: www.kirkusreviews.com/subscription Advertising Opportunities: www.kirkusreviews.com/about/advertising- Newsletters: www.kirkusreviews.com/subscription/newsletter/add Cover design by opportunities Melissa Taylor 2 | 15 april 2020 | from the editor’s desk | kirkus.com | you can now purchase books online at kirkus.com contents the indie issue special features young adult INTERVIEW: PINTIP DUNN.................................................................4 INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS ........................................................155 ESSAY: FROM SELF-PUBLISHING TO TRADITIONAL .....................6 REVIEWS ............................................................................................155 INTERVIEW: JACOB M. APPEL ..........................................................8 EDITOR’S NOTE................................................................................. 156 CONVERSATION: MEENAL PATEL & ROSILYN SEAY .................... 10 INTERVIEW: DEAN ATTA ................................................................ 160 INTERVIEW: JUDY JUANITA .............................................................12 CONTINUING SERIES ......................................................................172 INTERVIEW: ANDREW M. FAULK .................................................... 14 indie fiction INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS ........................................................173 INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS ......................................................... 16 REVIEWS ............................................................................................173 REVIEWS ............................................................................................. 16 EDITOR’S NOTE..................................................................................174 EDITOR’S NOTE................................................................................... 18 INDIE BOOKS OF THE MONTH ........................................................197 INTERVIEW: JULIA ALVAREZ .......................................................... 26 SEEN & HEARD .................................................................................198 MYSTERY ............................................................................................. 52 APPRECIATIONS: WALDEN AND THE INDIE SPIRIT SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY ......................................................... 62 ..................199 ROMANCE ........................................................................................... 63 nonfiction INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS ......................................................... 65 REVIEWS ............................................................................................. 65 EDITOR’S NOTE...................................................................................66 INTERVIEW: ALIA VOLZ .....................................................................72 children’s INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS ........................................................105 REVIEWS ............................................................................................105 EDITOR’S NOTE................................................................................. 106 INTERVIEW: NANCY REDD .............................................................112 BOARD & NOVELTY BOOKS ............................................................ 145 CONTINUING SERIES ...................................................................... 153 Alex Aster’s beguiling debut, Curse of the Night Witch, is an entirely original fantasy soaked in Latinx folk flavor. Read the review on p. 108. Publication dates in this issue were correct as of press time. But books are frequently being rescheduled; please consult the publisher’s website for the most up-to-date information. | kirkus.com | contents | 15 april 2020 | 3 INTERVIEWS & PROFILES Pintip Dunn HOW YA AUTHOR PINTIP DUNN LEFT A LAW CAREER BEHIND AND FOLLOWED HER CHILDHOOD DREAM OF BEING A WRITER By Alex Heimbach Elizabeth Chomas Photography Elizabeth Those questions inspired Pintip Dunn’s new YA novel, Malice, about a teen receiving messages from the future in order to help her prevent a devastating pandemic. “The book really combines all the things I’m interested in: time travel, big epic sacrifice, end of the world stuff,” Dunn says. Growing up the daughter of Thai immigrants in Kansas, Dunn always knew she wanted to