An impressive magical beginning for the legend of Scargen and his motley crew.
In this high-tech fantasy, young Thomas Scargen finds himself embroiled in a magical war while searching for his missing father.
Carl Scargen has been excavating artifacts from Old Egypt, including the sites of the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx, which were buried under sand during the Tech War. Eventually, Scargen’s team finds an ancient gem that radiates immense energy. When the doctor touches the object, a dangerous villain materializes. Meanwhile, back in New Salem, Scargen’s son Thomas wakes from a horrible dream in which his father has gone missing. No sooner does he begin investigating than a magical battle breaks out on his doorstep. During a fight against black ooze creatures called Eerah, Thomas meets a Spirit Summoner named Yareli, her ghostly companion Wiyaloo, and the teleporting dragon Bartleby. They’ve come to escort him to the great mage Ziza Bebami in the mystical city of Sirati. The group is waylaid, however, by agents of the merciless Grayden Arkmalis. Why is Thomas special to both the Council of Mages and an evil, nearly invincible warlord? Perhaps a stone gauntlet of awesome power, wielded by a long line of noble adventurers, holds the answer. Debut author Caracciolo’s sprawling, cleanly written adventure offers everything from librarian trees to soldiers who ride giant bats. Additionally, he stocks seemingly every corner of his futuristic fantasy with vampires, werewolves, intelligent machines and more. Fusing these elements with some comic book tropes, he builds a rollicking tale of longing and self-discovery. Readers will welcome his dry wit: “The imp wore a tan button-down shirt and a green vest—formal attire for an imp, seeing that imps did not normally wear clothing.” Sometimes, though, the prevalence of cockney accents goes overboard: “We ’av given dem duh merchandise, and dey ’av given us duh credits in return.” Nevertheless, Caracciolo’s nonstop imaginative display is riveting. His tale zips among feverishly concocted set pieces and lovingly rendered characters. The final showdown, crafted with aplomb, whets appetites for what should be a doubly epic second volume.
An impressive magical beginning for the legend of Scargen and his motley crew.Pub Date: May 18, 2013
ISBN: 978-0615779201
Page Count: 504
Publisher: Roundstone Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 3, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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