An Earth-shaking opening to the chronicle of a rapacious galactic empire.
In Goldsmith’s YA SF novel, a 12-year-old prodigy stricken with MLS is abducted by aliens.
Abandoned and suffering from muscular dystrophy, Thomas Hill is only 12 years old, but he’s discovered various miracle cures. The New Hampshire native conceals a secret during the resulting fuss made over him: The sickly boy is also a powerful psychic. Thomas makes contact with another unusual, sheltered young New Englander: Ariock Dovanack, a gigantic, shy misfit, still growing at the age of 22. Attempts by Thomas and others to probe the connections between the boys’ disorders are interrupted by a commando raid by humanoid aliens called the Torth, who have been remotely monitoring Thomas. Some 30 trillion in number (“The power and size of the Torth Empire was beyond imagination!”), the Torth are telepathic, selfish, and ruthless. They recognize Thomas as one of their own, perhaps the result of a runaway Torth on Earth practicing sexual reproduction outside established test-tube norms—one of many taboos punishable by instant death. Thomas’ intellect is outstanding, even by Torth standards. On the Torth-controlled planet Umdalkdul, power players debate executing the Earth boy as an abomination or converting him to their ways. The author’s breathless narrative establishes the totalitarian nightmare of existing within a galaxy of countless mind-readers, where there are no secrets and the slightest transgression brings hideous consequences. Wrapped within the narrative is a sharp critique of social media, as the Torth’s ubiquitous “Megacosm” hive-mind is basically a super-internet. Thoughtful explorations of morality, altruism, justice and mercy, and the idea that godlike powers come with godlike responsibilities add depth and breadth to this auspicious entry in SF literature’s mutant-superman genre. Though the material has natural YA appeal, it does not shun adult content or graphic carnage. The perilous premise seizes the reader’s attention from start to open-ended finish, and Goldsmith notes that this is only the opening act in a six-part saga.
An Earth-shaking opening to the chronicle of a rapacious galactic empire.Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2023
ISBN: 9781039442726
Page Count: 594
Publisher: Podium Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A prototypical survival story: after an airplane crash, a 13-year-old city boy spends two months alone in the Canadian wilderness. In transit between his divorcing parents, Brian is the plane's only passenger. After casually showing him how to steer, the pilot has a heart attack and dies. In a breathtaking sequence, Brian maneuvers the plane for hours while he tries to think what to do, at last crashing as gently and levelly as he can manage into a lake. The plane sinks; all he has left is a hatchet, attached to his belt. His injuries prove painful but not fundamental. In time, he builds a shelter, experiments with berries, finds turtle eggs, starts a fire, makes a bow and arrow to catch fish and birds, and makes peace with the larger wildlife. He also battles despair and emerges more patient, prepared to learn from his mistakes—when a rogue moose attacks him and a fierce storm reminds him of his mortality, he's prepared to make repairs with philosophical persistence. His mixed feelings surprise him when the plane finally surfaces so that he can retrieve the survival pack; and then he's rescued. Plausible, taut, this is a spellbinding account. Paulsen's staccato, repetitive style conveys Brian's stress; his combination of third-person narrative with Brian's interior monologue pulls the reader into the story. Brian's angst over a terrible secret—he's seen his mother with another man—is undeveloped and doesn't contribute much, except as one item from his previous life that he sees in better perspective, as a result of his experience. High interest, not hard to read. A winner.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1987
ISBN: 1416925082
Page Count: -
Publisher: Bradbury
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1987
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