A swashbuckling fantasy trilogy trudges toward a formulaic conclusion in which a mythical city girds for a hopeless battle against overwhelming forces, hoping to provide sufficient diversion to cover the desperate quest of two unlikely heroes to destroy Ultimate Evil. Sound familiar? A bizarre alliance of retired gods, roguish pirates and extraordinary sea beasts defends Aelenium, the sketchily conceived starfish city, from monstrous kobalins of the deeps and the hordes of the cannibal king. Meanwhile, adolescent “polliwogs” Jolly and Munk acquire a problematic companion in Aina, erstwhile enemy—or is she?—of the terrible Maelstrom they must destroy. Cue gory battles, heroic sacrifices, encounters awesome and inexplicable. Just when All Seems Lost, the climactic confrontation turns upon the homely virtues of friendship. The piratical flourishes and campy charm of the previous titles are lost in the rush of plot. Key players careen from heroically noble to pettishly spiteful to inchoately alien—it’s tricky to tell heroes from villains. Not a bad series overall, but this volume is by-the-numbers. Purchase where interest in the first two demands. (Fantasy. 10-14)
Pub Date: May 6, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-4169-2476-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2008
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
It’s slanted toward action-oriented readers, who will find that Briticisms meld with all the other wonders of magic school.
In a rousing first novel, already an award-winner in England, Harry is just a baby when his magical parents are done in by Voldemort, a wizard so dastardly other wizards are scared to mention his name.
So Harry is brought up by his mean Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia Dursley, and picked on by his horrid cousin Dudley. He knows nothing about his magical birthright until ten years later, when he learns he’s to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hogwarts is a lot like English boarding school, except that instead of classes in math and grammar, the curriculum features courses in Transfiguration, Herbology, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Harry becomes the star player of Quidditch, a sort of mid-air ball game. With the help of his new friends Ron and Hermione, Harry solves a mystery involving a sorcerer’s stone that ultimately takes him to the evil Voldemort. This hugely enjoyable fantasy is filled with imaginative details, from oddly flavored jelly beans to dragons’ eggs hatched on the hearth.
It’s slanted toward action-oriented readers, who will find that Briticisms meld with all the other wonders of magic school. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 978-0-590-35340-3
Page Count: 309
Publisher: Levine/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1998
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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