A jumble of inconsistent plot, by-the-numbers romance, artless characters, and muddled theme.
The sequel to The Temple of Doubt (2015) further explores the conflict among the god Nihil, the magic-wielding Azwans, and narrator Hadara.
Sixteen-year-old pale, golden-eyed Hadara of Port Sapphire in the world of Kuldor is wondering if she is possessed. Ever since she thwarted the Azwans’ attempt to sacrifice her, she has been able to understand the languages of the lizardlike Gek and the Feroxi, pale-skinned, blue-eyed giants. The Feroxi have been sent to Port Sapphire to put the populace back on track in the pious worship of the god Nihil, whose creed has to do with doubting certainties and being certain of doubts. It’s a fuzzy premise that doesn’t get any clearer because plot and character consistency is a deep and ongoing problem. The amplification of the fledgling romance between Hadara and tawny-skinned, brown-eyed Valeo—a half-human, half-Feroxi guard—is fraught with so many emotional reversals that readers will be forgiven for thinking that they are manufactured solely to conveniently fit themselves into the plot point of the moment. Hadara’s overabundant interior monologues do not add any clarity, instead coming across as contradictory and obtuse. Worldbuilding is trivialized by the characters’ ostentatious habit of taking Nihil’s name in vain, à la “Nihil’s nuts,” “Nihil’s scrawny buttocks,” “Nihil’s knuckles,” etc.
A jumble of inconsistent plot, by-the-numbers romance, artless characters, and muddled theme. (Fantasy. 14-16)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63450-193-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Equal parts entertaining and thought-provoking.
Sixteen-year-old Mandy considers herself the anti-Starfire: Unlike her scantily clad superhero mother, she doesn’t have superpowers, can’t fly, and doesn’t even own a bathing suit.
Mandy dyes her hair and dresses in all black to further call out how different they are. Mandy’s best friend, Lincoln, whose parents were born in Vietnam, insightfully summarizes this rift as being down to an intergenerational divide that occurs whether parents and children come from different countries or different planets. Mandy tries to figure out what kind of future she wants for herself as she struggles with teenage insecurities and bullying, her relationship with her mom, and her budding friendship (or is it something more?) with her new class project partner, Claire. Yoshitani’s vibrant and colorful stylized illustrations beautifully meld the various iterations of Starfire and the Titans with the live-action versions of those characters. Together with Tamaki’s punchy writing, this coming-of-age story of identity, family, friendship, and saving the world is skillfully brought to life in a quick but nuanced read. These layers are most strongly displayed as the story draws parallels between cultural differences between the generations as evidenced in how the characters address bullying, body positivity, fatphobia, fetishization and sexualization, and feminism. This title addresses many important concepts briefly, but well, with great pacing, bold art, and concise and snappy dialogue. The cast is broadly diverse in both primary and secondary characters.
Equal parts entertaining and thought-provoking. (Graphic fantasy. 14-16)Pub Date: July 27, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-77950-126-4
Page Count: 184
Publisher: DC
Review Posted Online: Aug. 10, 2021
Fans of the series who managed to enjoy volumes four and five will be pleased to find more of the same
The Caretakers fight the mind-controlling Echthroi through a tangle of timelines.
This penultimate volume in the Imaginarium Geographica series features such a massive ensemble of dead white men that it's difficult to follow their storylines. Don Quixote, Aristophanes and a badger quest for magic armor. Charles Williams, original characters Rose and Edmund, H.G. Wells, Richard Burton and a Clash of the Titans–style mechanical owl travel in time. J.R.R. Tolkien and Jules Verne meet a secret society so packed with dead authors that six William Blake clones ("We call them Blake's Seven") fit right in. A Chinese librarian speaking pidgin English betrays the questers, Medea meets Gilgamesh, and triple agents abound. A goblin market is peopled with characters from The Last Unicorn who make jokes from Blazing Saddles; Nathaniel Hawthorne paraphrases the 1988 cult classic They Live; a future Caretaker quotes Darth Vader. "Jules Verne show[s] goats descended from the herds of Genghis Khan in a county fair in an Indian nation in America … " Confused yet? If not, perhaps you'll be able to make sense of a resolution that relies on pasts that never were and futures that might-have-been.
Fans of the series who managed to enjoy volumes four and five will be pleased to find more of the same . (Fantasy. 14-16)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-1223-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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