Opening where the previous episode, Coming of Dragons (2006), left off, young castaways Edmund and Elspeth are seized and carried in the talons of the immense dragon Torment toward a confrontation with the chained trickster god/demon Loki. As before, Lake builds a quick-paced plot filled with suspenseful chases, narrow escapes, rescues and dangers, as Elspeth carries the magical sword that will either slay Loki, or free him, down into the fiery cavern where Men and “Fay” had imprisoned him long ago. The author surrounds her with sturdy—if sometimes, particularly in Edmund’s case, conflicted—allies old and new, tucks in several revelations, plus a magnificent battle between outsized dragons, then leaves the door open for further adventures. A better-than-average middle volume that keeps the story rolling along nicely. (Fantasy. 12-14)
Pub Date: May 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-59990-039-1
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
Told in a series of letters between young freed slave Liza Bowser and Miss Bet (Elizabeth L. Van Lew), who freed young Liza and sent her from Richmond, Virginia, to Philadelphia to be educated, this is fiction based on facts. Set before and during the US Civil War, a picture of those years, personalities, and conditions emerges in scrapbook form, with period illustrations, articles from newspapers, other documents, letters, and diary entries. Miss Bet, a wealthy Virginia abolitionist cared deeply for Liza and could not abide slavery. When War commenced, Liza, now back in Richmond and considerably grown, joined with Miss Bet and they became spies, providing the Union with news of the capital city of Confederacy, and other information. The latter is from the home of Jefferson Davis, where Liza served as a house slave taking care of the Davis children. Rather than being identified by their real names, the two are known as Ellen Bee. Always informational in a non-didactic way, with strong characterization and sometimes fraught with suspense, this tale delivers a view of that time in a different way. At times, diction slips into a very modern style (“yakked,” “pitch a fit”) and an oddly long and detailed letter from Miss Bet to Liza, in Confederate Richmond, is so full of important information that if found by enemies, it could destroy the entire Union spy ring and send the spies to their deaths. It is an expository device, but makes Miss Bet appear unintelligent. The “scrapbook,” with incidents from the lives of two real people, should hold readers and be of special use when the Civil War is studied. A map of Richmond would have been a nice addition. (Historical fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-689-82379-7
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Two stunning tragedies are at the center of this story of the WWII homefront. Lisle deftly uses the first two chapters to introduce characters and setting. The first begins with the slow progress of mighty naval guns into a Rhode Island village in 1942. Watching are 13-year-old cousins Robert and Elliot, and Abel Hoffman, an artist who has fled Nazi Germany. The second begins with a family dinner where Grandfather controls his family through barely contained rage. There is a ghost at the table and in Robert’s life—his emotionally elusive father who is flying for the Royal Air Force, the mere mention of whom exacts savage reaction from Grandfather. Surrounding the two tragedies, which are never far from the surface, is a finely woven web of secrets, suspicions, prejudice, and fear. Lisle brings the anti-German sentiment that swept the East Coast into sharp relief through Hoffman, who discovers he is reliving the nightmare of his life in Germany. When the villagers, convinced he is a Nazi spy, set fire to his home and work, Hoffman walks into the flames of his own paintings. Characters are interestingly developed, especially the artistic Elliot, who uses his drawing to catch and contain images of fear so they lose their power over him. Elliot, who never directly opposes his grandfather, disappears into self-imposed isolation within his family. The second tragedy is jarring for all its earlier foreshadowing. Fittingly, it is revealed through Elliot’s drawing in which Robert’s defiant father is shot in the leg by his own father. The conclusion leaves Robert wondering how he can bear to live in a family that serves itself daily doses of denial and pretense, and learning “the art of keeping cool” from his enigmatic cousin. Briskly plotted, emotionally complex, brutal in incident yet delicately nuanced in the telling, a fine historical fiction. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-689-83787-9
Page Count: 216
Publisher: Richard Jackson/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000
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