Bright, brave characters star in this exhilarating tale of magic and mystical creatures.
An orphan witchling struggles with school bullies and the likelihood that the mother she’s never known betrayed her coven in the launch of Adams’ (The Santa Thief, 2017, etc.) YA fantasy series.
Like all 9-year-olds in the realm of Orkney, Abigail begins her training in witchery at Tarkana Witch Academy. Friends are hard to come by, especially as Endera, daughter of powerful High Witch Melistra, targets Abigail for ridicule. But Abigail fortunately befriends Hugo Suppermill, a scientist-in-training at the Balfin School for Boys. The two are together—outside of their respective schools—when Abigail first uses witchfire. Though she no longer needs to worry that she’s a magicless “glitch-witch,” Abigail is perplexed by her blue witchfire—everyone else’s is emerald-green. She and Hugo soon learn that this unique color could mean she’s the daughter of Lissandra, a Tarkana witch and reputed coven traitor. With Endera using spells (courtesy of Melistra’s spellbook) against Abigail, it’s hard enough for Abigail to avoid expulsion from the academy. But in the swamps outside of Tarkana Fortress, Abigail will face menacing creatures, such as the giant, wolflike viken, while resisting a new, insistent voice in her head that’s trying to turn her toward dark magic. Adams’ entertaining novel is a prequel to her previous series, also set in Orkney. As in her earlier novels, this series’ first installment is rich in Norse mythology, including references to Thor and Asgard. But it’s the main characters that truly boost the narrative. Abigail and Hugo are particularly strong, two devoted pals who seemingly take turns saving one another. The author’s chiseled prose and speedy pace are complemented by Stroh’s (The Raven God, 2017) sharp illustrations, which create memorable images, most notably pigtailed Abigail in a defiant stance. While subplots are resolved, series arcs are likewise established; Abigail, for example, may be part of a dark prophecy with the threat of war—another tie to Adams’ preceding series.
Bright, brave characters star in this exhilarating tale of magic and mystical creatures.Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-943006-77-9
Page Count: 216
Publisher: SparkPress
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Bulky, balky, talky.
In an updated quest for the Holy Grail, the narrative pace remains stuck in slo-mo.
But is the Grail, in fact, holy? Turns out that’s a matter of perspective. If you’re a member of that most secret of clandestine societies, the Priory of Sion, you think yes. But if your heart belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, the Grail is more than just unholy, it’s downright subversive and terrifying. At least, so the story goes in this latest of Brown’s exhaustively researched, underimagined treatise-thrillers (Deception Point, 2001, etc.). When Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon—in Paris to deliver a lecture—has his sleep interrupted at two a.m., it’s to discover that the police suspect he’s a murderer, the victim none other than Jacques Saumière, esteemed curator of the Louvre. The evidence against Langdon could hardly be sketchier, but the cops feel huge pressure to make an arrest. And besides, they don’t particularly like Americans. Aided by the murdered man’s granddaughter, Langdon flees the flics to trudge the Grail-path along with pretty, persuasive Sophie, who’s driven by her own need to find answers. The game now afoot amounts to a scavenger hunt for the scholarly, clues supplied by the late curator, whose intent was to enlighten Sophie and bedevil her enemies. It’s not all that easy to identify these enemies. Are they emissaries from the Vatican, bent on foiling the Grail-seekers? From Opus Dei, the wayward, deeply conservative Catholic offshoot bent on foiling everybody? Or any one of a number of freelancers bent on a multifaceted array of private agendas? For that matter, what exactly is the Priory of Sion? What does it have to do with Leonardo? With Mary Magdalene? With (gulp) Walt Disney? By the time Sophie and Langdon reach home base, everything—well, at least more than enough—has been revealed.
Bulky, balky, talky.Pub Date: March 18, 2003
ISBN: 0-385-50420-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2003
Aspiring filmmaker/first-novelist Chbosky adds an upbeat ending to a tale of teenaged angst—the right combination of realism and uplift to allow it on high school reading lists, though some might object to the sexuality, drinking, and dope-smoking. More sophisticated readers might object to the rip-off of Salinger, though Chbosky pays homage by having his protagonist read Catcher in the Rye. Like Holden, Charlie oozes sincerity, rails against celebrity phoniness, and feels an extraliterary bond with his favorite writers (Harper Lee, Fitzgerald, Kerouac, Ayn Rand, etc.). But Charlie’s no rich kid: the third child in a middle-class family, he attends public school in western Pennsylvania, has an older brother who plays football at Penn State, and an older sister who worries about boys a lot. An epistolary novel addressed to an anonymous “friend,” Charlie’s letters cover his first year in high school, a time haunted by the recent suicide of his best friend. Always quick to shed tears, Charlie also feels guilty about the death of his Aunt Helen, a troubled woman who lived with Charlie’s family at the time of her fatal car wreck. Though he begins as a friendless observer, Charlie is soon pals with seniors Patrick and Sam (for Samantha), stepsiblings who include Charlie in their circle, where he smokes pot for the first time, drops acid, and falls madly in love with the inaccessible Sam. His first relationship ends miserably because Charlie remains compulsively honest, though he proves a loyal friend (to Patrick when he’s gay-bashed) and brother (when his sister needs an abortion). Depressed when all his friends prepare for college, Charlie has a catatonic breakdown, which resolves itself neatly and reveals a long-repressed truth about Aunt Helen. A plain-written narrative suggesting that passivity, and thinking too much, lead to confusion and anxiety. Perhaps the folks at (co-publisher) MTV see the synergy here with Daria or any number of videos by the sensitive singer-songwriters they feature.
Pub Date: Feb. 4, 1999
ISBN: 0-671-02734-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: MTV Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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