Tight pacing and sharp characterization keep this derivative, predictable tale moving.
In this first book of a high-fantasy series, Thomas (Conjectrix, 2012) takes readers on magic-fueled adventure.
Just when Naomi’s bold actions look like they might get her into trouble, she’s swept away by a mysterious stranger. Her friend Zander isn’t so lucky: The prince of Parbraven’s guards capture him. While Naomi and Reynolds, the stranger, make a daring, dangerous escape, Zander suffers at the hands of his captors, only to be rescued by the prince himself. For Naomi’s safety, Reynolds leaves Naomi with a group of young people who, like her, are struggling to understand and tame the magic that lives within them. But Naomi isn’t as safe here as Reynolds had hoped. When danger threatens Zander’s new royal friends, he sees his chance to step up and be a hero, risking his own life to do so. Zander’s and Naomi’s lives are intertwined with magical stones, and one in particular that holds great power, the Vivatera. The stones and the greed they inspire bring both power and danger to those who possess them. As the first book in a planned series, this novel lays the groundwork for future works by explaining the back story behind this fantasy world and the magical rules that govern it. Naomi and Zander are still young and unsure of themselves, and the dangers they face are grave, but success in the face of adversity helps boost their confidence. The beginnings of a love story between Naomi and the somewhat conflicted Reynolds can be seen, as the familiar fantasy tropes of magic amulets, unknown ancestry and untapped powers pop up in this novel that thankfully eschews flowery language. What the story lacks in originality, it more than makes ups for in solid storytelling, despite its lack of adult subjects and language. Young readers are perhaps less likely to notice the rehashing of familiar fantasy elements.
Tight pacing and sharp characterization keep this derivative, predictable tale moving.Pub Date: April 13, 2013
ISBN: 978-0989303507
Page Count: 356
Publisher: Xchyler Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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