To his glee and joy, Matt the robber chief has a child: "a robber's daughter," and the next robber chieftain. It would be Lindgren who'd put it into Matt's wild head to have wanted a girl all along, and who'd make Ronia a fit, free-spirited, dauntless robber's daughter—just a little skeptical when she learns what robbers do. But worse is to come: Matt's archrival Borka has moved with his band into the unused half of Matt's Fort, on the other side of Hell's Gap, and Borka has also got himself a child: a son, Birk. Once Birk and Ronia have made contact—first, leaping back and forth across the gap; then, saving each other's life—it will of course be Romeo and Juliet. The rivalry between the two robber bands heats up, Matt all the more enraged because he can't figure out how to eject Borka from the fort. And when he captures Birk by chance, intending to imprison him until Borka leaves, Ronia vaults the Sap. . . and, in defecting, breaks Matt's heart. Ronia and Birk flee to Bear's Cave for the summer—an idyllic, laughing summer. But, come autumn, Ronia's all-knowing mother Lovis seeks her out, and then Matt himself invites her back—with Birk, if must be. The two unregenerate old robbers, Matt and Borka, will fight hand-to-hand and join up. But their offspring and heirs, without peaching, have another trade in mind. Ronia as the darling of the robber's band is a delight, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs crossed with The Beggar's Opera; and her relationship with Birk, if lyrical/pastoral, is also realistically touchy (and never mawkish). You can see exactly where this is headed, but you do want it to get there.
Pub Date: April 1, 1983
ISBN: 0140317201
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1983
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Enigmatic enemies, sabotage, space travel, and short, bone-wracking bits of time travel make for a banging adventure.
All remaining humans are leaving Mars for a distant planet, but departure day goes sideways.
The “burning husk” of Earth fell into the sun five years ago, and Mars is about to become uninhabitable. The Scorpius leaves today with the last 100 million passengers. Thirteen-year-old Liam’s sad to go: he was born on Mars and identifies as a Martian, unconcerned that his Earth heritage is “Thai, Irish, Nigerian, Texan, and like ten more.” His parents and his friend Phoebe’s parents are rushing the final research for terraforming their destination planet when a radioactive explosion, complete with mushroom cloud, blows the lab to bits. The Scorpius departs with Liam’s sister and the 100 million aboard, leaving Liam, Phoebe, and a highly skilled robot functionally alone (their parents are alive but unconscious)—can they catch the Scorpius? Emerson’s story is fast, exciting, and terrifying, involving spacecraft of many sizes, travel through space, more explosions, an alien gadget that shows Liam the near future (and that extraterrestrials exist! Humans hadn’t known), and some shadowy characters. Who’s the blue ET chronologist murdered in Scene 1? Who’s trying to exterminate humankind, and why? How many unrelated ET groups are out there? A stunning reveal at the end will leave readers gasping for the next installment.
Enigmatic enemies, sabotage, space travel, and short, bone-wracking bits of time travel make for a banging adventure. (Science fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-230671-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
The action may sometimes be implausible, but it sure doesn’t stop.
After their mother is taken to the hospital, two brothers decamp from their home outside Pittsburgh in order to find their estranged father in a remote area of Wyoming.
Thirteen-year-old Jake and his younger brother, Taylor, are pathetically unprepared for a journey, and their decision to bring the family Jack Russell terrier, Cody, adds complications. Pretending to be older and having absconded with funds belonging to their mother’s boyfriend, Bull, the boys are incredibly lucky at times but eventually find the wilderness to be more challenging than they expected. At a crucial point they meet wolverine tracker Skeet, who graciously shares his knowledge and gear. But even as their confidence grows and they begin to feel that they are on their way to finding their dad, their past choices come back with a vengeance. Wallace maintains the book’s pace by providing menacing peril at regular intervals; realistically, as the boys perceive some dangers as more threatening than is actually true, but they underestimate others. (“Wilderness Tips” in the backmatter serve to clarify these points.) The continuous seesaw between urban settlement and wilderness, threat and safety, luck and skill might turn off hard-core survival fans, but it will be attractive to adrenaline junkies.
The action may sometimes be implausible, but it sure doesn’t stop. (Adventure. 9-14)Pub Date: May 5, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3264-1
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
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