Jaclyn Dolamore (www.jaclyndolamore.com) spent her childhood reading as many books as she could lug home from the library and playing elaborate pretend games. She has a passion for history, thrift stores, vintage dresses, drawing, and local food. She lives with her partner, Dade, and three weird cats in a Victorian house in western Maryland.
A decadent populace, a totalitarian state and a plague of vanishing
people bring three young people into the heart of an
anti-government plot. Thea just wants to keep her job at the
Telephone Club, serving the wealthy glitterati. Her mother's losing
her reason to bound-sickness, weakened by magically enhanced grief
from the destruction of her illegal marriage bond to Thea's
missing-in-action father. These days, it's all Thea can do to keep
the two of them alive. Freddy is one of those wealthy Telephone
Club patrons. By night, he woos Thea, who fascinates him; by day,
he brings corpses back to life at the request of his guardians. Nan
was once a Telephone Club waitress herself, but now, she's
awakened-her memory magically damaged-surrounded by gray, unhappy
laborers who insist she's dead. This post-war, Jazz Age inflected,
slightly steampunk magical world is revealed through the eyes of
these three teens as they try to save all their world's victims,
even those long since doomed. It's not clear why this government is
so wicked-it feels as though the villains' dastardly behavior is
more a matter of convenience than conviction. Whatever the cause,
what can comic-book evil do in the face of three adolescent
protagonists? There's a possibility of sequels in the chaotic,
untidy conclusion. There's enough original worldbuilding in this
comfortably familiar dystopian fantasy to keep readers going
despite the gaps. (Fantasy. 12-15) Kirkus"
Dolamore's urban fantasy introduces a city loosely based on
culturally vibrant, politically repressive interwar Europe and
plants a dark secret at its heart. The setting feels generically
European; revolutionaries meet at the "Caf Rouge," and crowds flock
to the "Lampenlight [district] on Saturday night." But the
diabolical plot that entangles Thea, a 16-year-old trying to make
ends meet as her mother slides into insanity; her best friend,
serious and purposeful Nan; and Freddy, a magician who can revive
the dead, shows substantial originality. As Freddy interacts with
Thea, he discovers that his guardians are misusing his powers to
enslave the dead. Meanwhile, Nan finds herself among his victims,
stripped of her memories. She fights to keep her promise to rescue
fellow prisoner Sigi as they navigate their complicated
relationship. Dolamore (Magic Under Stone) brings the elements of
her complex storyline together with flair, and an extended climax
provides closure and reveals new sides to the characters-heroes,
villains, and those somewhere in between all have strong motives.
Though a sequel is planned, this installment stands alone. Ages 12
up. PW"
Gr 7 Up With her father missing and presumed dead and her mother
becoming increasingly mentally unstable, 16-year-old Thea Holder
must find work that will support the two of them. The waitressing
job she finds at the Telephone Club introduces her to a mysterious
boy, Freddy, and the sinister underworld with which he seems to be
involved. When her best friend and co-worker, Nan, vanishes, the
situation becomes increasingly perilous as Thea and Freddy discover
that the city workers are literally dead men walking, kept alive
through arcane magic. Reminiscent of Fritz Lang's 1927 sci-fi film
Metropolis, this grim, pseudo magical world with hints of Jazz Age
esque features never completely comes together. Unfortunately, what
could have been an interesting premise is marred by stilted
dialogue and two-dimension paper doll like characters. Two
understated romances develop, including one between a zombie turned
female photographer and an asexual fae teen who is willing to
sacrifice herself for the cause. Teen readers would be better off
reading Libba Bray's "Diviners" series (Little, Brown). Jane
Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library, AK SLJ"
The city of Dolamore's urban fantasy has a vaguely 1920-ish feel
about it, complete with dance hall girls, labor unrest, and the
lingering effects of a devastating war, but here magic exists as
well, and it's a dangerous and desired commodity. Three teenagers
there unravel a tangled web of government lies and secrets as they
search for the truth behind a recent spate of missing persons.
Sixteen-year-old Thea is trying to make ends meet as a waitress at
the glamorous Telephone Club; her best friend Nan goes missing one
night and finds herself in an underground prison with only fleeting
memories of previous life; Freddy is a teenaged, silver-haired
magician who has the ability to raise the dead and with whom Thea
searches for Nan. The novel is primarily driven by dialogue,
providing only a sketchy outline of the surrounding world. The lack
of detail makes the city and its inner workings generic and
underdeveloped, but it also serves to place the teens' search and
particularly Freddy's ethical dilemma-how to stop raising the dead
for his politician uncle's nefarious schemes-front and center. The
bad guys are easily identifiable from the get-go, and a
straightforward plot, plentiful dialogue, and tidy resolution makes
this a plausible choice for readers, younger and reluctant, wanting
to move from middle-grade fantasies to darker YA fare. KQG
BCCB"
When Thea meets Freddy at the Telephone Club, where she works, she
tells him she's trouble. The reverse might actually be true, when
she finds out he speaks to and revives the dead, including her
father, once thought killed in a bloody battle. Her mother and her
best friend have disappeared, too, and Freddy has more to do with
it than Thea expects. She works with him and the secret
revolutionaries bent on freeing the recently revived and keeping
them out from under the oppressive government's shady control. Thea
loses and gains so much over the course of this original urban
adventure that readers are sure to keep the pages turning. Dolamore
builds an intriguing fantasy world, vaguely reminiscent of a
war-ravaged twentieth-century Europe with the glitz of the Gilded
Age, old-country magic, and an underground dystopian flair.
Although the uptown time and place are a little hazy, and it takes
a few chapters to get a whole picture of the city and its environs,
the thrilling payoff is worth it. - Stacey Comfort Booklist"
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