Emezi’s direct but tacit story of injustice, unconditional acceptance, and the evil perpetuated by humankind forms a compelling, nuanced tale that fans of speculative horror will quickly devour. Jam’s language is alternatingly voiced and signed, the latter conveyed in italic text, and Igbo phrases pepper the family’s loving interactions. When Pet, giant and grotesque, bursts into her life one night, Jam learns it has emerged to hunt and needs the help of a human who can go places it cannot. Together, Jam, Pet, and Redemption embark on a quest to discover the crime and vanquish the monster. Teenager Jam unwittingly animates her mother’s painting, summoning a being through a cross-dimensional portal. Pet, as it tells Jam to call it, has come to her realm to hunt a human monster––one that threatens peace in the home of Jam’s best friend, Redemption. Jam’s hometown, Lucille, is portrayed as a utopia-a world that is post-bigotry and -violence, where “angels” named after those in religious texts have eradicated “monsters.” But after Jam accidently bleeds onto her artist mother’s painting, the image-a figure with ram’s horns, metallic feathers, and metal claws-pulls itself out of the canvas. Carnegie Medal–nominee Emezi ( Freshwater for adults) makes their young adult debut in this story of a transgender, selectively nonverbal girl named Jam, and the monster that finds its way into their universe.
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