A girl learns about her magical heritage and preordained fate just as an evil wizard threatens to take over an enchanted world in this YA series opener by Drake (Touching Fate, 2015).
Gia knows she loves libraries. But she doesn’t realize that she can use them as portals to other libraries around the globe until she accidentally falls into a book, taking her friends Nick and Afton with her. On the other side, they encounter a horrible creature the size of a rhino under attack by several teenagers in armor, including Arik, a dreamy warrior who shares a love of Gia’s favorite children’s book. These teens are Sentinels, protectors of the gateways between the human world and the realm of Mystiks, or magical folks. Not only does it turn out that Gia is a Sentinel herself, but she’s also the prophesied daughter of two Sentinels—an illegal union—and she may bring about the end of the world. But Gia’s not one to let prophecies and rules interfere with her dreams; she agrees to train as a Sentinel for the summer, as long as she’ll get her old life back in the fall. But as Gia becomes deeply involved in the Mystik realm, where anyone could be an agent of Conemar, the sinister wizard set on global domination, she realizes that more depends on her there than at home. This familiar-feeling novel boasts some energetic new twists. Drake’s worldbuilding is intriguing: powerful battle globes (Arik wields a fire globe; “He can manipulate the fire into a thin whip”), new races of fairy creatures who work in tandem with Sentinels and wizards, and—best of all—portals in libraries, which many readers will eagerly believe are mystical places. And while Gia possesses a clear teen voice, her romantic feelings remain inconsistent; her relationship with Arik seems on again, off again before it ever starts. Other plot points, such as the mistaken identity of a key character, remain muddled. And a late-introduced love triangle seems inserted almost haphazardly. While suffering from too many characters and some convoluted plot elements, this novel still offers an exuberant mashup of portal fantasy and chosen-one motifs.
Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63375-221-4
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Review Posted Online: Jan. 6, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A trick ending–in which the final three quarters of the book is revealed to have been only a (possibly prophetic)...
Potentially intriguing stylistic choices instead form a knot of incomprehensible prose in this convoluted sci-fi tale.
Starra Starbuck is a farmer on a polluted future Earth where human life is rapidly being driven to extinction by natural disasters. As one of the planet’s six potential psychics, Starra is drafted into an expedition to find a new home for humankind in a distant galaxy. The journey ends in disaster when the ship bursts open en route and only Starra survives. She successfully lands the craft on an alien planet, where she is pleased to find all the computers are programmed in English. Quickly resigning herself to the inevitable death of all her friends on Earth, Starra blithely steals a ship and jets off to an interplanetary poker competition. Her ensuing adventures–during which the environmental message of the narrative falls off the radar–are marred by malapropisms, grammatical errors and sloppy syntax. Starra’s narration is peppered with an excess of bland adjectives–one typical sentence describes three items as “blue” and three as “brown.” Constant repetitions of the phrase, “I sighed with,” to indicate emotion only contribute to the choppiness; Starra sighs with, among other things, “grit,” “confidence,” “determination” and “surprise.”
A trick ending–in which the final three quarters of the book is revealed to have been only a (possibly prophetic) dream–cheapens the already broken tale. (Science fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-595-35799-7
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Great for a middle- or high-school audience looking for some fun.
Comedy and suspense dominate this imaginative twist on the Dracula legend.
Harnissey, Dracula’s vampire nephew, and his companion, the ancient spider Morleaux, arrive at the old homestead for a visit when Dracula leaves for London. Harnissey, innocent, well-meaning and constantly bumbling, is attacked by the vampire sisters in residence, who intend to take over the castle while the Master is away. He and his intelligent spider sidekick eventually form an alliance with Dracula’s undead butler, a nicely drawn character always surrounded by a halo of buzzing flies, and a kingly, sinister cat, to do battle against a centuries-old vampire sorceress who’s arrived holding a grudge, along with her skeleton army. Bayne has a flair for droll comedy. His monstrous characters stand out clearly and distinctly as individuals, and the author’s clever focus on the other side of Bram Stoker’s novel helps fill out the story. The humorous undead protagonists, who are afraid of ghosts, add plenty of flavor to the story, as does the author’s incorporation of historical detail. The only flaw is Bayne’s tendency toward too-flippant dialogue, which is clearly designed to appeal to adolescents, but is inconsistent with the more sophisticated style used in the narration. Still, this is an entertaining romp that displays originality and inventiveness.
Great for a middle- or high-school audience looking for some fun. (Fiction. YA)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2006
ISBN: 0-595-40242-9
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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