Chock-full of sharp tonal contrasts, this tale should appeal to readers with a hunger for alien adventure and an...
A debut novel fuses a serious issue—the stigma of mental illness—with sci-fi to chronicle a girl’s unusual coming-of-age.
On the surface, Courtney Hoffman seems like an average 15-year-old girl: she holds down a decently high spot in the high school hierarchy, serving as vice captain of the soccer team. But she also experiences nightmares stemming from when her now-dead grandfather, who believed in aliens, supposedly tried to drown her. Turns out, these aren’t dreams after all—aliens visit Courtney at night, trying to communicate with her (“Slowly I cracked my eyes open. Silhouetted in the light were three alien creatures. Their long, lanky bodies shuffled awkwardly toward my bed. This isn’t supposed to be happening!”). But how can she figure out what they want when her mother keeps threatening to lock her up in a psychiatric hospital? With the help of an older girl named Agatha Kirlich, who possesses an extravagant goth wardrobe, and a brother who is also visited by the aliens, Courtney uncovers clues that lead her to an ancient group known as the Knights of the Magi. Courtney’s destiny lies with the Knights and their quest to keep the dangerous pathways between universes closed off—but their mortal enemies, the Soldiers of Bilim, are determined to stop her from fulfilling it. Stefani takes readers along on a wild ride through portals to other worlds that delivers plenty of amusing adolescent dialogue; Courtney and Agatha’s interactions crackle with chemistry and eccentricity. In contrast to these funny moments, the earlier parts of the book, before Courtney realizes the aliens are real—when she legitimately believes that she is losing her mind—are pretty dark. The character of Courtney’s mom is unsympathetic and cruel to the point of feeling like a coldhearted cartoon; she treats her daughter’s potential mental illness as an inconvenience that must be forcibly submerged by Courtney or she’ll be shuttered in an institution as punishment. Once Courtney’s conflict with her mother takes a back seat to her escapades with Agatha and the aliens, the plot picks up speed and becomes a lot more enjoyable.
Chock-full of sharp tonal contrasts, this tale should appeal to readers with a hunger for alien adventure and an understanding of how it feels to be considered crazy.Pub Date: June 7, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-940716-34-3
Page Count: 328
Publisher: SparkPress
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A trip to the mall becomes therapy in this high-school soap opera, third in the Hazelwood High series by Draper (Romiette and Julio, 1999; Forged by Fire, 1997). African-American narrator Keisha, having mourned the suicide of her ex-boyfriend, involves herself with an attractive older man—with near-disastrous results. Jonathan’s attention makes Keisha feel mature, so she defies her parents’ injunction not to date him and ends up having to defend herself from rape in his apartment—an event so nakedly foreshadowed that there is little tension. Draper presents an appealing circle of friends, but they are so ridiculously virtuous—eschewing sex before marriage, avoiding alcohol (not a whisper about drugs), doing their homework, diligently making college plans, impulsively giving soup to a homeless woman, coaxing an anorexic friend into eating—that they stand more as good role models for teen readers than as realistic characters. Dialogue is frequently stilted (“Especially in winter, blooming flowers bring smiles to folks like me who are sad and confused”), and the use of the ungrammatical “me and . . . ” nominative construction, presumably to create voice, is at odds with the high-achieving Keisha’s otherwise Standard English. This series appears to be an attempt to carve out a niche of the high-school problem-novel market for African-American teens; it’s a pity this offering only complements the banality so often found in this genre. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83080-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000
A well-crafted fantasy grapples with the ambiguities of violence. Princess Torina of militaristic Archeld meets Prince Landen of peaceful Bellandra when her father Kareed presents her the boy as a slave, having slaughtered his father, conquered his homeland, and captured their greatest treasure, a magical Sword that supposedly renders the wielder invincible. Torina frees Landen and sends him to the Archeldan barracks. Bullied for his presumed weakness, Landen vows to wreak revenge on Archeld by surpassing their martial prowess. While mastering his military training, he secretly befriends Torina, whose prophetic gifts are revealed by a Bellandran crystal. When the traitor Vesputo murders Kareed, framing Landen and plotting to marry Torina, they escape, hiding under assumed identities. Believing each other to be dead, they separately become invaluable to the High King—Torina as a Seer and Landen as a mercenary captain—as he seeks to bind his warring neighbors into alliance. They foil assassination plots, rescue the Sword, repulse invading barbarians, and yet never cross paths until the climactic confrontation with Vesputo. Hanley pulls off the cleverly constructed plot of her first novel with cinematic panache, piling on hairsbreadth escapes, near misses, and nailbiting cliffhangers. While intelligent, passionate Torina rarely rises above the “feisty redheaded princess” stereotype, Landen is a genuinely intriguing hero: a pacifist warrior who continually struggles with the tragic consequences of failing to oppose evil with force. Unfortunately, Hanley never really resolves this conflict, opting for a deus ex machina to eliminate the despicable Vesputo and leaving her principals guardians of a paradoxical Sword of Peace. Nonetheless, an impressive debut. (Fiction. 11+)
Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2000
ISBN: 0-8234-1532-5
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000
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