Fans of the series will welcome a new story arc stocked with familiar characters, settings, and adventures.
After narrowly averting a demon apocalypse in the previous series, Fablehaven sibs Seth and Kendra face a new threat to the world.
No good deed goes unpunished, it seems, and so cautious Kendra and her irrepressibly reckless little brother find themselves challenged by wily, scenery-chewing Celebrant, king of the very dragons who were so instrumental in quelling the demons. The dragons are now hot to break out of their own long confinement, and a hidden talisman is all that can restore the mysteriously weakened magic barriers that have kept them in check. Time for quests and tests! “The unworthy will not survive. Death is likely. Off you go,” a cheery guardian bids. With help from Calvin, a gigantic (i.e., thumb-sized) nipsie, and other motley allies, the young heroes survive hazards ranging from slavering dire bears to the clinically depressed Somber Knight to find the talisman and sneak it past a draconic blockade…only to learn that dragonkind is in general revolt and other sanctuaries have already fallen. In a broad hint of where Mull is going with this, Kendra gets an offer of help at the outset—from a demon. Stay tuned. If it feels formulaic, that’s because it is, but formula has its place.
Fans of the series will welcome a new story arc stocked with familiar characters, settings, and adventures. (Fantasy. 12-15)Pub Date: March 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62972-256-6
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
“I’ll never find a Mr. Darcy or a Heathcliff in this world,” moans Nora. Maybe not in this world.
Featuring a new family and an old house with a veritable platoon of supernatural residents, this latest entry in the tongue-in-cheek My Boyfriend is a Monster series hooks up a modern teenager and hunky, long-dead Thomas, who, it turns out, can manifest strongly enough to lock hands and lips. That’s the good news. Not so good: Two malicious poltergeists, a spectral moaner and a dark entity that can suck up both ghostly and living bodies, threaten to drive Nora and her family away entirely unless she can find a way to exorcise the lot. Except that the characters all sport oversized manga-esque eyes, the easy-to-follow black-and-white panels are drawn with a loose, expressive realism that effectively captures the plot’s droll and eerie turns. In the end, with a psychic’s help Nora does the deed even though it means Thomas’ departure, too—leaving her free for a budding new relationship with a (breathing) schoolmate. Any resemblances to Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze are surely coincidental. (Graphic paranormal romance. 12-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7613-8549-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Graphic Universe
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2012
Prompted by her father’s job offer and to ultimately fulfill the wish of her mother, 13-year-old Maya and her family uproot...
Paris. The Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Les Invalides. Then there's that sinister cult addicted to immortality.
Prompted by her father’s job offer and to ultimately fulfill the wish of her mother, 13-year-old Maya and her family uproot their lives in California for an across-the-pond move to Paris. Though she has her objections, Maya can hardly voice them to her mother, a delicate cancer survivor. So, despite her brewing frustrations, she is dutifully accommodating, all while acting as the unpaid babysitter for her ebullient younger brother, James, to smooth the transition. However, Maya and James soon discover a hypnotically alluring cabinet, peculiar branches in their family tree and an underground society with a morbid recipe for staying eternally young. Though it's easy to generalize this as a coming-of-age tale, Nesbet more specifically pinpoints this as the story of a young girl coming to terms with mortality while realizing that finding her intrinsic worth makes her content and also inspires her appreciation of those around her. The underground society (to which Maya and her brother are more closely tied than she could have ever imagined) morphs from simply a strange affair to an intriguing mystery to downright chills. While touches of the ever-popular fantasy theme of vampirism are definitely there, they are appropriately held at bay. A charmingly creepy European vacation for fans of chillers and thrillers. (Suspense. 12-15)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-196313-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2011
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