Heartbreaking, marvelously funny, and generously redemptive.
Change is coming to Deadwood Forest, and Clare is afraid for his livelihood.
Lonely Clare, a silver-tailed fox, was run over as a kit six years ago, but he didn’t go on to the Afterlife. Instead, he resides in Deadwood Forest, the splendidly realized world where he serves as Usher to the four realms: Peace, Pleasure, Progress, and Pain. He believes himself to be hideous, with his patchy fur and empty eye socket, reminders of the accident that brought him here, so he wears a cloak and a monocle. Clare gives the woodland creatures who knock on his cottage door tea and his attention as he tells them about their altered circumstances—they are dead—and explains that “each soul is drawn to the world where they will be most comfortable.” Clare fears the realm of Pain for himself: He knows that only the worst of creatures go through that portal, yet he believes that Brickbane, his predecessor and mentor, foretold such a fate for himself. When a lively badger spirit arrives, full of questions, but Clare is strangely unable to guide her to the correct realm, he’s dismayed to realize that his work as an Usher may be over. Hartman gracefully balances poignant and comic moments, wry observations, and moments of kindness. The narrator opens by directly addressing readers and provides a lovely and consoling revelation in the epilogue. Final art not seen.
Heartbreaking, marvelously funny, and generously redemptive. (Fantasy. 8-13)Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780316575720
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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