Nevertheless, with its gorgeous language and thoughtful themes, this is a book to be savored rather than devoured.
Mirrors and magic collide in this third volume of a lyrical fantasy quartet.
Canterstock College isn’t much of a wizarding school anymore, but Tamrin is still furious when she is unjustly expelled; resentful and determined, she follows the only clue to her past. Meanwhile, the wizard apprentice Sam feels compelled to seek out the young girl he barely knows. They accumulate an odd assortment of allies on their separate journeys to a horrific confrontation with the twisted wizard Ash, now on the verge of escape. The only barrier to Ash’s scheme to warp magic itself into her own monstrous reflection is the strange bond Tam and Sam share….Despite the heightened external stakes, the gruesome encounters with Ash and her loathsome minions, the real impetus behind the story is each character’s need to answer the leitmotif inquiry: “What am I?” Rich, sensuous prose, dense with potent metaphors and allusions, channels a narrative that loops around itself, requiring many passages to be read more than once to get their full impact; indeed, the final battle is described so elliptically as to be almost opaque (and unfortunately anticlimactic). Some characters and plot points are left dangling, leaving readers to wait for the final volume for definitive resolution.
Nevertheless, with its gorgeous language and thoughtful themes, this is a book to be savored rather than devoured. (Fantasy. 10-16)Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-61963-528-9
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
A spectacular return to a magical world.
Following the events of Impossible Creatures (2024), a devoted Guardian teams up with a brave princess to fight her power-hungry uncle and save the Archipelago’s dragons from a strange new threat.
Jacques the dragon summons Christopher Forrester back to the Archipelago from the human world: Dragons are dying, and no one knows why. Meanwhile, on the island of Dousha, Princess Anya’s grandfather, King Halam, has been murdered, and her father accused—though she knows he’s innocent. When Christopher and Anya take refuge on the islet of Glimt, the Berserker Nighthand helps them see how their twin missions to save the dragons and free Anya’s father are connected. They work together to create an antidote for the poison that’s killing the dragons and to keep Anya and her father safe from her murderous uncle. Meanwhile, Nighthand and Irian, the part-nereid ocean scholar, pursue their own important secret mission. Divided into three parts—“Castle,” “Dragons,” and “Revenge”—and containing elements of fairy tales, fantasy, and Shakespeare, this story continues the storyline established in the series opener, yet because it introduces new characters and obstacles, it could also stand alone. Dark-blond Anya (“five feet tall and all of it claws”) is a match for white-presenting Christopher, who, though he still misses Mal, finds that “it made a difference to have someone to move through the world with again. A friend changed the feel of the universe.” Mackenzie’s delicate, otherworldly art adorns the text.
A spectacular return to a magical world. (map, bestiary) (Fantasy. 10-15)Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780593809907
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
PROFILES
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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