A series opener that skims the surface.
Siblings Tell and Wren journey down the mountain alone to the sorcerers’ home to save their father’s life.
When their father wounds his only good eye mining sorcerer’s glass from the mountain, village rules say he must heal in 30 days or be left on a glacier to die following a farewell ceremony. The children will be separated to live with adults who will beat them and treat them like servants. But Tell is 14, almost old enough to travel to the town of Halfway like the other men. They go once a year to sell black glass and bring back provisions for the harsh winter. Tell is determined to sell the sorcerer’s glass himself so he can make enough money to get medicine for his father and keep his family together. His 12-year-old sister, Wren, sneaks away to join him. But when they stumble on a dangerous plot to take over Halfway—one that also puts their entire village in great danger—Tell, Wren, and their new Halfway friends must unravel the scheme and try to save everyone. The central concept of this debut novel from screenwriter Peckham is intriguing but execution is lacking, and the to-be-continued ending is unsatisfying. More of a play-by-play than a fully realized novel, the book features characters who lack depth and circumstances that are often too convenient. This harsh world includes child and animal abuse. Characters are presumed White.
A series opener that skims the surface. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-66591-313-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Time-travel hijinks and ’90s rap references abound in a fun and funny series starter.
In this entertaining novel centering Black tweens by noted musician and filmmaker Questlove and bestselling author Cosby, the gift of a supersmart phone is a godsend…until it’s very much not.
Philadelphia seventh grader Rahim Reynolds wants to be a rapper like Four the Hard Way, his favorite ’90s group, but if he’s not getting bullied at school, his history professor father’s strict anti-tech, all-books policies make things hard at home. Bestie and home-schooled neighbor Kasia Collins, in contrast, lives in a tech-filled wonderland and is the genius behind most of her home’s innovations. A space-time traveling phone that uses secret government satellites is just the latest invention she tests on her occasional guinea pig, Rahim. When he accidentally dials himself into 1997, Kasia never doubts her ability to get him back, but time is very literally working against them as Rahim disregards her warnings and interferes with almost everything. He quickly befriends his preteen father, sneaks into a Four the Hard Way concert, changes familial and global history, and causes a wormhole that wreaks havoc. Kasia, meanwhile, must deal with government agents and two sets of worried parents while figuring out how to get Rahim home. A semisuccessful return to the present quickly reminds Rahim of how good he had it before. The conclusion of this charming collaboration sets the stage for larger stakes in future adventures. Art not seen.
Time-travel hijinks and ’90s rap references abound in a fun and funny series starter. (Science fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: April 18, 2023
ISBN: 9780593354063
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A few promising, even brilliant bits are lost in an ill-constructed jumble of warring plotlines and ambiguous agendas.
As fleets of hostile warships gather over a floating city, a young thief finds himself the object of an urgent manhunt.
Readers can be excused for coming away bewildered by Sheehan’s competing storylines, disconnected events, genre-bending revelations, and refusal to fit any of the major players in the all-White–presenting cast consistently into the roles of villain, ally, or even protagonist. Continually shifting through points of view and annoyingly punctuated with an omniscient narrator’s portentous commentary, the tale centers on the exploits of 12-year-old street urchin Milo Quick and his squad of juvenile ragamuffins (seemingly juvenile at any rate; one is eventually revealed to be something else entirely) in an aerial city of Dickensian squalor threatened by a multinational flying armada. Though a lot of people are after Milo, ranging from the swashbuckling crew of a flying privateer hired (ostensibly) to kidnap him and a vengeful punk bent on bloody murder to a sinister truant officer paid lavishly by mysterious parties to watch over him, he ultimately winds up—or so it seems—being no more than a red herring all along. The actual target is revealed piecemeal in conversations and flashbacks before the commencement of a climactic bombardment and an abrupt cutoff in which three side characters, miraculously shrugging off multiple knife and bullet wounds, themselves suddenly take center stage to set up a sequel.
A few promising, even brilliant bits are lost in an ill-constructed jumble of warring plotlines and ambiguous agendas. (Science fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: March 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-10951-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
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