Soot

September 1, 2019

In Vyleta's much-raved-about Smoke, set in an alternate 1800s England where humans exude billowing black fumes when they sin--and the upper classes rule because they are so much cleaner--Thomas, Charlie, and Livia investigated the conspiracy behind the phenomenon. In this sequel, the world is in chaos ten years later, and Thomas goes to India to discover the origins of Smoke as a colorful cast jockeys to find out how to control its sooty power.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 21, 2019
Vyleta returns to the blackened streets of the late-Victorian-era dystopia introduced in Smoke in this ambitious but overlong sequel. In the first book, Smoke—a physical manifestation of thoughts that causes black clouds to emanate from the skin when a person is feeling strong emotions—was released in an attempt to create an equal society; however, the rich conspired to purge themselves of this new way to mingle emotions. Now, 10 years after Smoke was released, Vyleta’s narrative moves beyond Britain, jumping between the story of Eleanor Renfrew, the niece of the Lord Protector of England, as she hides from her power-hungry uncle in Canada with a Smoke-powered acting troupe, and Mowgli, whose body was used to unleash Smoke on the world, as he scrapes by as a thief in New York City under his new moniker, “Nil.” When Eleanor believes her uncle has found her, she flees to New York with the performing troupe of Balthazar Black. There she meets Nil, as well as a mysterious agent from the Machiavellian Company named Smith, and a beetle that seems to possess strange qualities. This band of misfits believe they have figured out ways to control Smoke and return to England for the final confrontation with the Lord Protector. Vyleta’s bold vision of a society controlled by dark emotions looms large in this stunning, if long-winded, conclusion to a remarkably inventive tale.

January 1, 2020
A return to the Dickensian-dystopian world of Smoke (2016). Let's welcome, once again, to a smoke-filled stage your three favorite teenage characters from Smoke, Thomas Argyle, Charlie Cooper, and Eleanor Renfrew, along with a vast array of supporting characters, old and new. Vyleta organizes his bulky novel like a play, with five acts, numerous scenes, and an intermission, interspersing memoranda, letters, and diary entries throughout. It's 1909 in England, 10 years after Thomas, Charlie, and Livia Naylor released Smoke, a visible marker of sin and emotion that the authorities wanted to control. They hoped it would bring about a cultural and political revolution. They were wrong. In Saint John, New Brunswick, elderly playwright Balthazar Black, the grandson of a slave, is putting on a Smoke Theatre skit about Charlie and Thomas--"There is not a story more widely told than theirs." The audience, suddenly realizing who the actors are playing, gasp. Fake smoke fills the room. Black discovers that Eleanor Renfrew is in the audience. She's the niece of Erasmus Renfrew, who taught at Charlie and Thomas' school and is now the imperious Lord Protector. Balthazar, Eleanor, and the troupe of players sail to New York to foil a dastardly plan of Renfrew's. Meanwhile, Mr. Smith, who works for the powerful Company, has his own plans for gaining power. People have fled to the Minetowns, where they've set up their own Workers' Council in Ekklesia, a "giant hollow in the ground." Vyleta's labyrinthine tale adds subplots upon subplots. We meet Mowgli, a South American boy whose body may have been used to unleash the Smoke. Charlie has ventured to the glaciers of the Himalayas, seeking to discover the origins of Smoke. Could it reside in a dull, velvet-black rock? What unique powers do beetles, sweets, and Smoke Poppies possess? Who is this Angel of the North? Can it save them from Smoke? All about, Black Storms and Gales rage. Excessive, overwrought, and lacking Smoke's exciting dramatic thrust.

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 15, 2020
Soot picks up ten years after the events of Smoke (2016), which ended with smoke?the physical manifestation of sin?being unleashed. Though many remain ashamed of its presence, smoke is entrenched in everyday life. Balthazar, a playwright, uses it to make his plays visceral, while others see anything from smoke cigarettes to smoke suppressors as an opportunity for profit. Soot follows this cultural shift from the Americas to India to England, giving considerable weight to minor characters from the previous novel, especially Eleanor, whose cruel uncle experimented on her when she was younger, and who now has the ability to mollify others' smoke, and Nil, once dubbed Mowgli, whose body was used to release the Second Smoke and is searching for answers about his past. Vyleta's command of language is as haunting and intangible as smoke itself, and the varying story lines depict the cross sections of intimacy and honesty, colonialism and capitalism. Smoke broached tough questions about human nature and power structures; Soot probes into them with even more nuance and sophistication.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)