by Mark Walden ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 14, 2015
Plot twists, action, and explosions galore; it might as well be a movie.
Humanity continues to struggle against the invaders introduced in Earthfall (2013) while facing new threats and revelations.
Sam, one of the few humans immune to Voidborn mind control, hasn’t made much progress since capturing the Mothership above London. The mind-controlled Sleepers aren’t any closer to freedom, and the small resistance isn’t any closer to global action. When they intercept a transmission, they embark on a mission to find fellow free humans. Instead, they find monstrous, humanoid creatures. All escape except for Sam, who, presumed dead, narrowly survives with the help of a girl who has partially become one of those creatures, called the Vore, but retained her humanity. Sam and Mag find the other humans, a paramilitary band with ties to the initial resistance—but not all’s what it seems. The Voidborn and humans aren’t the only species in the universe. Walden does a good job at juggling the foreshadowed plot twists with ones that truly come out of nowhere, keeping readers on their toes. The dialogue frequently reaches levels of so-good-it’s-bad B-movie schlock quality. Intense action sequences keep the plot moving quickly to an extended expository scene; from there it proceeds to a series of conflicts that build to an adrenaline-inducing, video-game–style final boss fight and an end-credits teaser for the next adversary—this is a trilogy’s middle volume, after all.
Plot twists, action, and explosions galore; it might as well be a movie. (Science fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: July 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4424-9418-3
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
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by Dav Pilkey & illustrated by Dav Pilkey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 28, 2012
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2013
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
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