With more revision, this book could have been the start of a Jumanji-like adventure series for preteen space lovers. Alas,...
Aaron, a white boy in Bixie, Montana, must save his mom and friend from “nothingness” by defeating an alien in an interdimensional game.
The premise of this middle-grade sci-fi novel is captivating. Unfortunately, the emotional stakes remain low throughout the story, which unfolds as a series of tasks or puzzles Aaron needs to complete. The narrative voice is muddy; attempts at generating tension come across as a smoke screen that confuses readers. The dialogue is stiff, but there isn’t much of it; Aaron is on his hero’s quest alone. The use of the third person distances readers from Aaron’s emotions, and without trustworthy companions, there is little opportunity for character development. The author hints at an interesting cosmology, but that too is poorly realized. Instead of learning about the different dimensions and planets through exploration, Aaron gets long bouts of exposition from minor characters along the way. The seemingly Herculean tasks require neither bravery nor wit—a Google search helps Aaron solve one of the puzzles. Aaron doesn’t seem to grow from his experience. He is simply relieved when he wins and his life, apparently, goes back to normal.
With more revision, this book could have been the start of a Jumanji-like adventure series for preteen space lovers. Alas, it falls short of its potential. (Science fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-944816-69-8
Page Count: 214
Publisher: Tantrum
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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
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Ultimately more than a little full of itself, but well-stocked with big themes, inventively spun fairy-tale tropes, and...
Good has won every fairy-tale contest with Evil for centuries, but a dark sorcerer’s scheme to turn the tables comes to fruition in this ponderous closer.
Broadening conflict swirls around frenemies Agatha and Sophie as the latter joins rejuvenated School Master Rafal, who has dispatched an army of villains from Capt. Hook to various evil stepmothers to take stabs (literally) at changing the ends of their stories. Meanwhile, amid a general slaughter of dwarves and billy goats, Agatha and her rigid but educable true love, Tedros, flee for protection to the League of Thirteen. This turns out to be a company of geriatric versions of characters, from Hansel and Gretel (in wheelchairs) to fat and shrewish Cinderella, led by an enigmatic Merlin. As the tale moves slowly toward climactic battles and choices, Chainani further lightens the load by stuffing it with memes ranging from a magic ring that must be destroyed and a “maleficent” gown for Sophie to this oddly familiar line: “Of all the tales in all the kingdoms in all the Woods, you had to walk into mine.” Rafal’s plan turns out to be an attempt to prove that love can be twisted into an instrument of Evil. Though the proposition eventually founders on the twin rocks of true friendship and family ties, talk of “balance” in the aftermath at least promises to give Evil a fighting chance in future fairy tales. Bruno’s polished vignettes at each chapter’s head and elsewhere add sophisticated visual notes.
Ultimately more than a little full of itself, but well-stocked with big themes, inventively spun fairy-tale tropes, and flashes of hilarity. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: July 21, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-210495-3
Page Count: 672
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2015
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