The author of The Deep Freeze of Bartholomew Tullock (2008) again wastes a promising premise on a tale shot through with weak logic, wooden dialogue and inconsistent characterizations. Having recruited a creature who can extract and absorb the special qualities of others, villainous mediocrity Fortescue has set out to rob all the human prodigies of the world—somehow persuading his monster to hand over the talents (which resemble Easter eggs when drawn from their owners’ heads) rather than consume them itself. This nefarious scheme is dealt a severe setback when the creature deprives sulky teenager Cressida Bloom of her extraordinary singing voice, and Cressida’s astonishingly thick-skinned, supposedly no-talent little brother Adam sets out to get it back. Along the way Adam collects two of Fortescue’s adult victims, whose budding romance provides a welcome distraction from the lumbering plot and meant-to-be-funny-but-not lines like, “You make me feel strangely uneasy, as if I’ve just eaten a moldy sandwich and I’m waiting for the ill effects to kick in.” With massive reworking, the film version, purportedly in the early stages of development, might be salvageable. (Fantasy. 11-13)
Pub Date: June 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-399-25278-5
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
It’s a muddle, and readers are as likely to flounder as Sky does. In a vision, he sees his beloved old mentor Phineas being...
A preteen with a shadowy past and two odd scars on his palm is cast into a small town’s ongoing struggle among multiple kinds of monsters and warring factions of monster hunters in this hefty setup volume.
It’s a muddle, and readers are as likely to flounder as Sky does. In a vision, he sees his beloved old mentor Phineas being ambushed; he narrowly escapes attack by ravening Shadow Wargs on the grounds of a decrepit old estate; he has multiple run ins with verbally abusive teachers, violent bullies and nearly-as-hostile allies at his new school. The author stocks a huge cast with shapechangers (some of whom can and do adopt multiple guises), monsters of his own creation ranging from luridly vicious “wargarous” to “double bogies” and “screaming wedgies” and humans like Sky’s supposed parents, who plainly know more than they’re telling. Patten parcels out the details of a confusingly complex back story and the impending crisis du jour—a creature of, supposedly, stupendous evil poised to escape a time trap on the aforementioned estate—in driblets, while splashing the plot with extreme but oddly nonfatal violence and tongue-in-cheek dialogue. “And trust me—it’s not as hopeless as it looks. It’s much, much worse. Ready?” Splashes and splatters likewise frame Rocco’s chapter head spot art.Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4424-2032-8
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
A high-velocity page-turner, for all that it’s only a segment of a larger arc.
Family members separated in a Florida hurricane struggle to get back together, but the waters are rising fast and big cats are on the loose in this sequel to Storm Runners (2011).
Taking up the action exactly where the previous episode left off, stranded teenagers Chase and Nicole leave the (supposed) safety of the circus barn to fetch gas for the sputtering generator—only to run into an escaped lion and, later, a very aggressive leopard. Meanwhile, Chase’s father and a TV news crew face flooding territory and multiple other serious dangers as they make their way toward the young folks’ refuge. Though the characters show a remarkable ability to carry on conversations in normal tones of voice amid howling winds and flying debris, the action never lags. As the two parties draw toward an eventual reunion Smith’s habit of switching his very short chapters back and forth on cliffhangers becomes more a suspense builder than the distraction it was in the opener. Nearly devoid of references to previous events and closing on game-changing news that will be sending the central cast on an emergency mission to Mexico in the next episode, this slice of natural disaster isn’t exactly freestanding, but it definitely offers nary a dull moment.
A high-velocity page-turner, for all that it’s only a segment of a larger arc. (Adventure. 11-13)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-545-08179-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 9, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2011
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