Face the night

Gr 9 Up--This action-adventure fantasy-Western will engage young adult readers with its fast-paced chapters, great dialogue, and well-developed characters. Readers meet Catriona Macgregor when she is about to be hanged for cattle raids, coach robberies, and many other crimes committed with the Wolves, her adopted band of friends led by Amos. Cat has been on the run for years, and despite the premonitory visions granted her by the Saints, she can't escape her past this time. A representative of the Ordonian Empire has come to take her back to Saint's Landing to stand in judgment for her crimes. Characters from the past flow back into her life, and Cat is forced to make harder and harder decisions to stay alive, questioning the value of family, friendship, and the sacrifices that must be made for both. Fans of Hanna Howard's Ignite the Sun and Moira Young's Blood Red Road will fall in love with Cat as she figures out how to survive while staying faithful to herself, family, friends, and ideals. This is an excellent addition to any library shelf, but will especially resonate with teens looking for a strong female protagonist, a lot of action, and just the right amount of campy humor. VERDICT A must-have for teen libraries and a great addition for any library.--Cathleen Ash

In this posthumously published novel, a teenage girl in the Ordonian Empire is a fugitive feared for her Blessing powers and her twin six-shooters. Since the murders of her parents nine years ago, 17-year-old Catriona Macgregor has been on the run from Baron William Caldwell, who killed them to gain access to their land and its coveted aurium, a dangerously powerful metal given to humans by the Fallen Saint. She joined a gang of robbers and took the alias Black Cat Whitfield, but she has at last been caught by the sheriff and will be brought back home to Saint's Landing--just in time to claim her family's land before it is considered forfeit and can be claimed by Caldwell. Cat goes undercover as a governess to his young daughter, enlisting Adrian, his son and her former friend, to help her stop his corrupt rule. The worldbuilding evokes the history of missionary and settler expansion into the American West, the pacing is steady, the characters are entertaining, and the plot is enjoyable. The novel explores themes such as greed and vengeance, but at its heart, it's a story about faith--in one's gifts, beliefs, and self-worth and in other people. Cat's impulses to run or ignore her fate are understandable, but she faces her greatest fears with grace and grit. Main characters are cued white; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast. A fast-paced and imaginative read. (foreword by Forbes' husband, patron saints of the Ordonian Empire) (Fantasy. 12-17) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.