None
A hastily assembled band of shrews, hedgehogs, and squirrels, led by a detachment of hares from the Long Patrol, marches out to defend Redwall Abbey from a horde of vicious rats in Jacques's latest installment (The Pearls of Lutra, p. 59, etc.). Under a new Firstblade, Damug Warfang, the thousand Rapscallions left after a failed assault on Long Patrol headquarters at Salamandastron set their sights on Redwall Abbey when they learn its southern wall is in desperate need of repair. Fortunately for the abbey's peaceful residents and many younglings, a platoon of the Long Patrol, including frisky new recruit Tamello De Fformelo Tussock, arrives to coordinate defense, and so does a relief column from Salamandastron. Jacques uses the winning formula developed in his earlier books, pitting treacherous, stupid, bloodthirsty woodland predators against heroic, commonsensical—and mostly vegetarian—good guys; opening with skirmishes, ballads, and feasts described in loving detail; breaking off, though never for long, for more meals and songs; building up to a climactic, seesaw battle; then finishing with a wedding, more feasting and verse, and a long-delayed homecoming. Fans will find characters and connections from previous books, the familiar thick dialect, delicious language, dashing action, and the comforting happy ending they've learned to expect. (Fiction. 11-13)
None NonePub Date: Feb. 23, 1998
ISBN: 0-399-23165-X
Page Count: 358
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1997
Pulled in different directions by her heart and by family duty, a daughter of the noble Fujiwara clan also has an angry ghost to appease in this busy sequel to Little Sister (1996). Two years after Mitsuko entered the land of the dead in search of her sister’s soul, ominous dreams remind her of her vow to repair a small shrine in which she once took refuge. At the same time, her father announces that Mitsuko is to marry an 11- year-old prince. She once again calls on Goranu, the mischievous, immortal shape-changer who fell in love with her. Exchanging insults and tart retorts, the two grow closer as Mitsuko faces a dragon, the shrine’s vengeful kami (spirit), and a host of other supernatural beings. Under Goranu’s tutelage, Mitsuko learns how to use her wits, and by the end has overcome the treacherous kami, helped engineer the prince’s marriage to her sister, and even met Lord Emma-O in the Court of the Dead. More than most sequels, this story relies on knowledge of its predecessor. Dalkey supplies a glossary and historical postscript, but readers unfamiliar with the first book will miss nuances in characters and relationships, and have only a sketchy picture of the 12th- century locales and social patterns. Together, however, the two novels combine a courageous teenager’s well-articulated escape from the limits and preconceptions forced on her by a rigid, highly structured upbringing with a colorful, not altogether earnest, series of encounters with powerful beings from Buddhist and Shinto lore. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-15-201652-X
Page Count: 230
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1998
A terrifying, somewhat confused reworking of a familiar theme: When Kevin Midas, smallest kid in class, finds a talisman that grants wishes but can't reverse them, events quickly escape his control. Inspired by a legend of magic, Kevin, his friend Josh, bully Bertram Tarson, and Bertram's brain-free sidekick Hal race to the top of a mountain. Kevin, who arrives first, finds a pair of sporty sunglasses that give him anything he wants, from a Lamborghini to forcing Bertram to jump into the lake. There are, however, insidious side effects: like a drug, the shades bring both exaltation and increasing exhaustion; worse, they undermine the structure of reality so that 2+2=3, the sun sets in the east, and only the original four (three, after Kevin, in a fit of rage, tells Bertram to go to hell) notice anything unusual. Horrified, Kevin takes the glasses back to the mountaintop, where the original race is re-created with a different, disappointingly innocuous, ending: our familiar universe is reconstituted and everyone forgets the whole episode. The story resembles Beatrice Gormley's tales of magic gone wrong, but it's much more sobering: The frequent gags and gaffes seem pale compared to the nightmarish plot; and it's hard to know whether to laugh at—or be chilled by—Kevin's predicament. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-316-77542-8
Page Count: 185
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1992
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