Fifteen-year-old Marisol remembers a life before New York City, one where she and her mother worked in hotels to serve island tourists, surrounded by other magical women to support them on nights they shapeshifted. Around the new moon, she and her mother—and other women like them—shed their skins into fireballs that fly across the sky to drain the life force of their enemies. Of course, this is far less easy to do in the city that never sleeps.
Though Brooklyn is no place for Marisol, it seems to give 17-year-old Genevieve everything she could want. Genevieve’s perfect life, however, is just an illusion. Her new twin half-siblings won’t stop crying, her skin condition is getting worse, and dreams of her estranged mother haunt her on the nights she manages to sleep. When Marisol’s mother takes a job working as a maid in Genevieve’s house, Genevieve and Marisol’s worlds collide, exposing Genevieve to Marisol’s magic, and Marisol to Genevieve’s family’s secrets.
Award-winning author Ibi Zoboi (American Street) makes her fantasy debut with (S)Kin, a novel-in-verse based on the Caribbean myth of the soucouyant, or fireball witch. This rich modern take imagines how soucouyants would survive in the 21st century, while paying homage to their classic portrayals and nodding to other supernatural creatures from Caribbean folklore, like the jab jab.
Zoboi uses her decadent verse to tackle heavy topics: issues of immigration, colorism, religion, class and misogynoir affect the lives of both Black girls. (S)Kin deftly alternates between Marisol and Genevieve’s perspectives, the voice of each teenage girl distinctive even in passages where they intermingle. Unfortunately, in the final third Zoboi sprints to an abrupt ending, leaving readers itching to see how shifting dynamics would have played out past the final page.
This fantastical novel-in-verse, where girls try to make “a new life out of old magic,” will please fans of contemporary fantasy and poetry alike. Readers of Zoboi’s earlier work will find much to love in (S)Kin.
