A grand series opener that introduces characters worthy of further sci-fi adventures.
In this YA debut, a teenage cadet at a space academy on the moon becomes unsettled by the abundance of mystery—and potential danger—surrounding the school.
After checking on a strange light in his bedroom closet, 15-year-old Bobby Sterling somehow wakes up strapped to a table. It’s not an alien abduction, as Bobby guesses, but merely professor Bink checking the teen’s vitals. The professor welcomes Bobby to Apeiron Academy, a prestigious school on the moon. Bobby is just one of numerous cadets, though most of them are there voluntarily as opposed to his unwitting recruitment. The cadets train in combat, using specialized technology for teleportation. Bobby, meanwhile, has no idea why the academy specifically chose him, but then he can’t get straightforward answers from any of the Apeiron faculty. Why, for one, does a machine called a Hovee appear to be searching the hallways? Bobby suspects the professor and others are hiding something, which may be related to a rumored incident at the academy 25 years ago. Fed up with murky details, Bobby starts questioning the cadets’ assigned missions. One in particular involves cloaking antennae for communication, which suggests that something out there is a threat to everyone at the school. Mueller’s launch of a sci-fi series establishes a convincing, likable protagonist. Bobby’s relentless questions are perfectly understandable, as is his resultant frustration with adults telling him relatively little. The story primarily revolves around Bobby’s learning about unfamiliar tech (for example, the telepathic thoughtboard) and interacting with peers. Though action is fleeting, the story deftly molds characters and relationships: Bobby has two possible romantic interests and an antagonist. The teen likewise recognizes and struggles to overcome his faults. All cadets get a robopanion, and Bobby becomes envious of others’ (his dog initially pales next to roommate Max’s dragon). Mueller’s prose is rich and ample but does occasionally fall flat: “a GPS like looking device” and an amusement park gate that’s “gloomy and science fiction like.”
A grand series opener that introduces characters worthy of further sci-fi adventures.Pub Date: March 20, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-73212-850-7
Page Count: 294
Publisher: Graphixela
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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