A heartwarming fantasy adventure featuring winning characters.
In this YA novel, Morse (The Sweetheart Deal, 2015, etc.) tells the story of two teenagers in different worlds whose fates are connected by an ominous prophecy.
More than anything, 14-year-old Kylie wants to lead a normal life. She loves science, has a crush on an older student, and is devoted to her dog, Newton. However, she struggles with moments of overwhelming and violent anger as well as inexplicable visions, which have previously landed her in a residential treatment center. Her problems appear to be connected to a mysterious amulet, given to her shortly before her mother’s death. Meanwhile, 14-year-old Prince Jarlon lives in Hamadriad, a land in a magical realm where humans exist alongside other fantasy races, such as the furry “cortali” and fierce “shinwar.” Born and raised to take the throne, Jarlon enjoys sword fighting and is steadfast in his loyalty to his country. After his home is attacked by the forces of an evil dragon, he attempts to mount a counterattack and avenge his fallen relatives; soon, he’s embroiled in local politics and coming to terms with his role as a leader. The two worlds collide when Kylie witnesses her stepfather open a portal to the magical realm and begins her own confrontation with the insidious influences of the dragon. Although the plot is fairly straightforward, Morse maintains suspense by alternating the perspectives of the two main characters, transporting the reader from cliffhanger to cliffhanger. She has an impressive ability to quickly establish likable characters and create sincere connections between them. For example, the relationship between Jarlon and Tryffin, a cortalis who becomes indentured to the palace as a punishment for stealing, is both entertaining and fraught with emotion. Thematically, the novel emphasizes the importance of taking responsibility for one’s actions and frequently calls into question the idea of destiny versus free will.
A heartwarming fantasy adventure featuring winning characters.Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5092-2238-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
Review Posted Online: Sept. 11, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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