Another fun outing, sure to please series fans.
Brittania’s secret weapon, shape-changing orphan Modo, returns for a third steampunky, jingoistic outing.
Somewhere in the Australian rain forest, the last remnant of an Egyptian civilization hides the God Face, a fabled treasure that drives men mad. Modo and fellow teen agent Octavia are on the case again, this time accompanied by their supervisor, Mr. Socrates, and his Indian servant/friend, Tharpa. As in the previous volumes, dialogue feels forced, especially the “reparting” (as Seven Dials–raised urchin Octavia calls the witty banter), and far too much internal monologue is focused on Modo’s face, even when he is not “speaking.” Fast-paced action sequences include airships, potentially dangerous natives and, of course, the Clockwork Guild and the wicked, metal-handed Miss Hakkandottir. These mostly balance the flaws, and the world continues to be delightfully inventive, although a cursed Egyptian tomb falls flatter than orphan-powered machines beneath London (The Hunchback Assignments, 2009) or an undersea Utopia (The Dark Deeps, 2010). An undercurrent of pro-British, racist behavior from Mr. Socrates may leave some readers uncomfortable, but Modo seems poised to challenge these attitudes, and he defies some of them here. Perhaps most important to fans, Modo finds that his appearance and amazing shape-changing skills may be linked to the tomb, and he may not be as singular as he feared.
Another fun outing, sure to please series fans. (Steampunk. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-385-73786-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Wendy Lamb/Random
Review Posted Online: Aug. 9, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2011
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
If it were a Golden Age comic, this tale of ridiculous science, space dogs and humanoid aliens with flashlights in their hands might not be bad. Alas... Number Four is a fugitive from the planet Lorien, which is sloppily described as both "hundreds of lightyears away" and "billions of miles away." Along with eight other children and their caretakers, Number Four escaped from the Mogadorian invasion of Lorien ten years ago. Now the nine children are scattered on Earth, hiding. Luckily and fairly nonsensically, the planet's Elders cast a charm on them so they could only be killed in numerical order, but children one through three are dead, and Number Four is next. Too bad he's finally gained a friend and a girlfriend and doesn't want to run. At least his newly developing alien powers means there will be screen-ready combat and explosions. Perhaps most idiotic, "author" Pittacus Lore is a character in this fiction—but the first-person narrator is someone else entirely. Maybe this is a natural extension of lightly hidden actual author James Frey's drive to fictionalize his life, but literature it ain't. (Science fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-196955-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
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