A detailed, imaginative YA fantasy with humor and pathos.
A high school student discovers his troubling magical powers in this fantasy/young-adult adventure.
Jordan McKee is trying his best to have a normal high school life. After a blinding light awakened him, he’s been experiencing the same things that got his Aunt Karen institutionalized. At first, Jordan tries to hide his new condition, but when he starts wearing sunglasses all day and avoiding invisible shrubbery on the running track, his friends, family and teachers demand to know what’s going on—if only Jordan knew. Walking in the woods, Jordan stumbles upon an old, smelly man peering over what looks like a complex pattern on the forest floor. This pattern turns out to be a sigil, a mode of communication with the shadow worlds that run parallel to our daily existence. Alwyn, the old man from the woods—who insists on being called “Sir” and can deliver a swift backhand if contradicted or interrupted—explains to Jordan that they are both Watchers, a secret society of seers who are sworn to protect the universe from “the one who would come after” the initial prophecy. The Watchers also claim to control the government, law enforcement and other authorities. As Jordan learns about the Watchers under Alwyn's tutelage, he becomes more alienated from his friends Billy and franki (with a lowercase “f”), as well as from his parents. But telling anyone about the Watchers comes with serious, and perhaps even fatal, consequences. Delving deeper into Watcher history, Jordan begins to understand that his position in the shadow worlds will determine the fate of humanity—and the course of his own life. Debut author Haakenson, who has imagined an entire series around the Watchers, has a keen ear for the cadences of teenagers, as well as a grasp of pacing and description that will keep the young-adult reader riveted.
A detailed, imaginative YA fantasy with humor and pathos.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2012
ISBN: 978-0988499805
Page Count: 292
Publisher: Remora House
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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