James Nicoll Reviews

Corinne Duyvis’ 2020 The Art of Saving the World is a stand-alone contemporary fantasy novel. 

Hazel Stanczak faces some of the same challenges that confront other teens. Such as worrying that her attraction to Marybeth McKellan might mean that she is gay¹. But there’s one challenge no other teen on the planet faces: the interdimensional rift in her back yard.

The Mysterious Government Agency — so classified that the Stanczak family doesn’t know its actual name — wishes that it knew more than it does about the interdimensional rift on the Stanczak farm near West Asherton, Pa. The MGA does know that the rift appeared when Hazel Stanczak was born and that it goes wild whenever she gets more than a mile and a half away from it. The MGA’s determination to protect America from a rift run amok, while keeping the rift a secret, has defined Hazel’s life to date. 

On her sixteenth birthday, Hazel discovers who she really is: Earth’s Chosen One! Which, as it turns out, is a destiny not to be desired.

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Corrine Duyvis’ 2014 Otherbound is a standalone fantasy. 

Arizona teen Nolan is a visionary. He doesn’t imagine things: he sees things. Whenever he closes his eyes — when he blinks, for example — he sees whatever Amara sees. 

Amara lives in another realm where magic is real. She has a talent, healing, which makes her nigh unkillable. You’d think this would make her a power in the world in which she lives. It doesn’t. She’s a slave. She’s a slave on the run, following her mistress. 

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Corinne Duyvis’ 2016 young adult novel On the Edge of Gone is the first of the author’s novels that I have encountered. It will not be the last. 

There will be spoilers.…

Life in mid-21^st Century Netherlands with her drug-addicted mother is already challenging enough for autistic teen Denise. She really didn’t need to deal with the end of the world as we know it, courtesy of an impending cometary impact¹. The Netherlands is a civilized nation and they have not simply abandoned their population to survive or die as change determines. Instead, the government built a network of shelters².

If only Denise and her mother were in a shelter. If only her mother had not insisted on waiting for Denise’s sister Iris to join them before setting out. Now there is no time to make it to their designated shelter.

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