Although the divisive violence of the Troubles is clearly shown, the storytelling is less successful, minimizing the...
Gallagher opens with a blockbuster: Maeve, just 12, is caught squarely in the Troubles in 1969 Belfast, Ireland, trapped inside her home, which Protestant extremists have just set on fire.
Unfortunately, it takes nearly the rest of the tale to reach that level of suspense again. Catholic Maeve has been befriended by Jewish twins Emma and Dylan, in Belfast while their father reports on the sectarian violence between Protestants and Catholics. Through the twins, she meets Sammy, the son of an oft-drunk Protestant extremist. Although initially shaky, their friendship grows until, in a thrilling climax, Sammy assumes the huge risk of making his way across the violence-torn city to rescue Maeve. While readers are familiar with wars that wrack distant parts of the world, this accurate depiction of violence in a familiar and seemingly benign area will surprise and educate many—a worthy accomplishment. Less admirable is the prose that nearly always defaults to telling rather than showing. Even Maeve’s relationship with Sammy is merely reported: “The more he got to know her the more he liked her, and although he didn’t share her nationalist views, he had found himself influenced by some of the things she said.”
Although the divisive violence of the Troubles is clearly shown, the storytelling is less successful, minimizing the potential impact of this tragic tale. (Historical fiction. 11-15)Pub Date: Feb. 19, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-84717-579-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: O'Brien Press/Dufour Editions
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Clever as ever—if slow off the mark—and positively laden with tics, quirks, and puns.
When deadly minions of archvillain Ledroptha Curtain escape from prison, the talented young protégés of his twin brother, Nicholas Benedict, reunite for a new round of desperate ploys and ingenious trickery.
Stewart sets the reunion of cerebral Reynie Muldoon Perumal, hypercapable Kate Wetherall, shy scientific genius George “Sticky” Washington, and spectacularly sullen telepath Constance Contraire a few years after the previous episode, The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma (2009). Providing relief from the quartet’s continual internecine squabbling and self-analysis, he trucks in Tai Li, a grubby, precociously verbal 5-year-old orphan who also happens to be telepathic. (Just to even the playing field a bit, the bad guys get a telepath too.) Series fans will know to be patient in wading through all the angst, arguments, and flurries of significant nose-tapping (occasionally in unison), for when the main action does at long last get under way—the five don’t even set out from Mr. Benedict’s mansion together until more than halfway through—the Society returns to Nomansan Island (get it?), the site of their first mission, for chases, narrow squeaks, hastily revised stratagems, and heroic exploits that culminate in a characteristically byzantine whirl of climactic twists, triumphs, and revelations. Except for brown-skinned George and olive-complected, presumably Asian-descended Tai, the central cast defaults to white; Reynie’s adoptive mother is South Asian.
Clever as ever—if slow off the mark—and positively laden with tics, quirks, and puns. (Fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-316-45264-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Megan Tingley/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Fans will be pleased to see answers, background, and a clear path to Volume 1.
In this sequel to a prequel, a third candidate for School Master brings simmering tensions between twins Rhian and Rafal to a boil.
In events following close on those in Rise of the School for Good and Evil (2022), the arrival of James Hook in Neverland, along with fellow ex-students Aladdin and Princess Kyma, spurs ruthless tyrant Peter Pan to mount his own bid to take over the twin-towered school where fairy-tale characters are trained. Meanwhile Rafal and Rhian, amid their growing rivalry, are both searching for an ally they can trust, and they kidnap a Reader—young Midas—from the outside world. What follows is a seminar on telling Good from Evil as the line between the two becomes even more muddled, numerous members of the sprawling cast exhibit qualities of both, and Rafal, in particular, suffers an extended identity crisis. Chainani explores feminist themes as a group of punk Neverland fairies and a man-hunting troll join Kyma, asserting their independence and questioning what might happen “if boys don’t have the last word in our stories.” He also presents a credible rationale for Good’s invariable victory over Evil in fairy tales. Characters’ skin tones vary from pale to bronze, and the two trolls are colorful showstoppers. Final art not seen.
Fans will be pleased to see answers, background, and a clear path to Volume 1. (Fantasy. 11-14)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780063269538
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
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