Third in a series about N.Y.C. teenager and aspiring actor Horace (``Ace'') Hobart (Ace Hits the Big Time, 1981; Ace Hits Rock Bottom, 1983), the story of his cross-country journey with his father Barney, who—orphaned in infancy and inspired by Joseph Campbell to ``follow his bliss''—decides to discover his roots. Many sleazy motels and greasy spoons later, Barney finds his grandmother, former circus performer Gloria Paulette Davenport, in Kansas City. She reveals that Barney is the child of her rebellious daughter Diana, killed in an auto accident in his babyhood, and Jimmy Martinez, a Tewa Indian still living in New Mexico's San Ildefonso pueblo. Journeying on, Barney and Ace are welcomed warmly by their newfound relatives at the pueblo, where Ace participates in an intense ceremonial corn dance and is given the name ``Eagle Feather.'' While much of the plot is implausible (particularly the Indians' ready acceptance of the Hobarts), the characters and settings here are vivid and believable. Ace's narrative, interspersed with postcards to his mother and sister, his girlfriend Raven Galvez, and his ``gang'' (the Falcons) back home, is reminiscent of Ron Koertge's and Randy Powell's books, by turns funny and compelling. (Fiction. 12+)
Pub Date: March 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-385-32035-3
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1994
Decades after the events of The Forest of Hands and Teeth (2009), teenager Gabry lives in relative safety. Despite the Barrier keeping the ravaging zombies out of town, Gabry is a terrified homebody who wants only to stay sheltered with her mother, the refugee heroine of Forest. Her nervousness is justified; when Gabry is peer-pressured into sneaking past the Barrier for a night of adolescent rebellion, several of her friends are zombified. (One wonders, if teens sneaking out for a snog is so dangerous to society, how there any humans left at all.) The ensuing chaos sends Gabry into the wilderness where, encumbered by revelations about love and family, she encounters zombie-worshiping cultists, the dangerous remnants of the army and her own past. Whatever comes between Gabry and her mother, there’s one thing they definitely have in common: Like her mother, Gabry experiences an angst-ridden, gloomy love triangle while fleeing from zombie hordes in the forest’s depths. Fast-paced despite the mawkish romance, it will be gobbled up by fans of the first volume like brains. (Horror. 12-14)
Pub Date: March 9, 2010
ISBN: 970-0-385-73684-8
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2010
This story presents an alien invasion from two unique viewpoints. Megs is 12, trapped alone in the parking garage of a Los Angeles hotel, forced to scrounge for food and water while avoiding alien spaceships outside and security guards who have taken over the hotel with vicious disregard for the safety of their “guests” inside. Josh is about to turn 16, trapped in his house in Washington state with his father and dog, watching their world being slowly but surely destroyed, day after day, from his living-room window. Both have to deal with supplies that shrink with every rationed meal. No phones, no radio or television, no electricity and no ability to step out of shelter without being “deleted”—this is a new world that only the truly brave can exist in. Written in short chapters that alternate between Megs and Josh, this masterful debut grabs readers by the throat from the first page and never lets go. It is clear at the end that there’s a lot more story to tell, and one can only hope that a sequel is not far behind. (Science fiction. 12 & up)
Pub Date: April 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-60898-011-6
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Namelos
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2010
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