A compassionate, humorous animal tale.
Dogs and cats team up and put on a show in an endearing celebration of friendship, cooperation and creativity for children by clinical psychiatry and psychology scholar Othmer (The Clinical Interview Using DSM-IV-TR Vol. 2, 2002, etc.).
A California family reunion brings together seven idiosyncratic pets—wise Labrador/pit bull Mr. Guinness; compassionate shih tzu Lexi; spunky Tibetan terrier Rosie; bumptious (and gassy) beagle/bassett hound George; kindly yellow Lab Bailey; and suave tomcats Cosmo and Miles. The big question is how to pass the time, and, through trial and error, the animals—captured with artistic wit by illustrator Rosean—discover their individual talents. After the group lets loose in a cacophonous song-and-dance frenzy, some hummingbirds teach them to sing and perform in harmony. (The author includes two jaunty original tunes at the book’s website.) The friends decide to perform a show, but have difficulty deciding on a location. Cosmo votes for the Galápagos Islands; George prefers Africa, with a post-show hunt for wildebeests and elephants. Discouragement sets in when they realize they have no means of travel, but Bailey comforts them, using real-world coping skills that Othmer imparts with lightness and humor (“Just because we can’t figure out right now how to get there doesn’t mean we will never know”). The pets eventually live their dream of performing when the human master of the house flies them to a woodsy Missouri city. The friends learn about themselves throughout their give-and-take creative process, and their story is enlivened by anthropomorphic animal behavior: Alpha dog Mr. Guinness makes lists with pencil and pad, Miles and Cosmo are tango experts, Cosmo carries a “mouse leather satchel.” The book warmly encourages self-discovery, and it’s a satisfying journey.
A compassionate, humorous animal tale.Pub Date: Nov. 19, 2012
ISBN: 978-1475961515
Page Count: 162
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.
Using mystery and romance elements in a nonlinear narrative, SenLinYu’s debut is a doorstopper of a fantasy that follows a woman with missing memories as she navigates through a war-torn realm in search of herself.
Helena Marino is a talented young healer living in Paladia—the “Shining City”—who has been thrust into a brutal war against an all-powerful necromancer and his army of Undying, loyal henchmen with immortal bodies, and necrothralls, reanimated automatons. When Helena is awakened from stasis, a prisoner of the necromancer’s forces, she has no idea how long she has been incarcerated—or the status of the war. She soon finds herself a personal prisoner of Kaine Ferron, the High Necromancer’s “monster” psychopath who has sadistically killed hundreds for his master. Ordered to recover Helena’s buried memories by any means necessary, the two polar opposites—Helena and Kaine, healer and killer—end up discovering much more as they begin to understand each other through shared trauma. While necromancy is an oft-trod subject in fantasy novels, the author gives it a fresh feel—in large part because of their superb worldbuilding coupled with unforgettable imagery throughout: “[The necromancer] lay reclined upon a throne of bodies. Necrothralls, contorted and twisted together, their limbs transmuted and fused into a chair, moving in synchrony, rising and falling as they breathed in tandem, squeezing and releasing around him…[He] extended his decrepit right hand, overlarge with fingers jointed like spider legs.” Another noteworthy element is the complex dynamic between Helena and Kaine. To say that these two characters shared the gamut of intense emotions would be a vast understatement. Readers will come for the fantasy and stay for the romance.
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9780593972700
Page Count: 1040
Publisher: Del Rey
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
A freewheeling, action-packed fantasy with a dash of romance.
Kova offers a fantasy novel set beyond the Nightgale Mountains in the walled fortress of Vinguard where citizens live in fear of the next deadly dragon attack.
Vinguard’s residents are always on guard against the threat of dragons, but they must watch more than just the skies. Living among them, hiding in plain sight, are the “dragon cursed”—people who, at any moment, may transform into terrifying winged beasts and destroy the city from within. For most of Isola Thaz’s life, she’s been told she’s the reincarnated savior of Vinguard. But just as she begins to suspect that she may be dragon cursed, she’s tossed into Vinguard’s Tribunal—a contest in which every 18-year-old competes in tests of skill and might to separate loyal citizens from the dragon cursed. As she’s sequestered for this rite of passage, Isola hesitantly allies herself with a handsome fellow competitor named Lucan. However, as the teens face such trials as fire-breathing automatons (“The silver beast comes to life with a swing. Its claws shear through the dim light”), starvation, and actual dragons while unarmed, Isola begins to feel that Vinguard’s traditions come at a cost that’s too steep. Meanwhile, Vicar Darius, Lucan’s father and the leader of Vinguard’s shadowy theocracy, the Creed, is desperate to take Isola’s powers for himself—and, to that end, he puts her into increasingly tortuous situations. However, neither he, nor Isola’s teenage rivals, are very compelling antagonists; instead, they come across as caricatures of cruelty. Still, the novel is fast-paced and action-oriented with a punchy prose that prioritizes movement over fantasy aesthetics. A sometimes-fraught romance between Isola and Lucan slowly blooms, but Isola’s relationship with her family forms the true emotional core of the narrative. Although the worldbuilding in fairly simple, the story sets up a massive mystery that promises big payoffs in a potential future installment.
A freewheeling, action-packed fantasy with a dash of romance.Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781649377838
Page Count: 448
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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