by Chris Grine ; illustrated by Chris Grine ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 30, 2017
As satisfying and enjoyable as a big-budget animated sci-fi feature.
A year after the worst day in Luke’s life, a chance encounter in the forest sparks a grand adventure.
Luke and his older brother, Kyle, are playing in the woods when a gang of bullies causes an accident that leaves Kyle dead and Luke without his brother and best friend. A year later, a flash in the forest leads the white boy to a strange device that clamps onto his forearm. Then, chased by a mummy, a skeleton in a spacesuit, and “vampire Napoleon,” Luke is rescued by an equally odd team: a robot Abe Lincoln, an Asian-featured ghost named Artemis, a dinosaur named Zinc, and Doc—the white inventor who, it turns out, invented the device on Luke’s arm. The mummy, skeleton and Napoleon are after the device, which facilitates access to the multiverse. To evade them, Luke and his new friends shift to an alternate Earth where spiders the size of humans inhabit what looks like the Old West. With the bad guys on their trail, can the good guys rescue a kidnapped Abe Lincoln and keep the device out of the hands of their pursuers’ diabolical boss? Grine’s time-and-space adventure is a full-color, action-stuffed tale with plenty of slapstick and sarcastic humor. Luke’s ragtag new acquaintances are an interesting bunch, and the villains are suitably silly and sinister.
As satisfying and enjoyable as a big-budget animated sci-fi feature. (Graphic science fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: May 30, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-92659-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
Share your opinion of this book
More by Chris Grine
BOOK REVIEW
by Chris Grine ; illustrated by Chris Grine
BOOK REVIEW
by Chris Grine ; illustrated by Chris Grine
BOOK REVIEW
by K.A. Applegate & Michael Grant ; illustrated by Chris Grine
by Kazu Kibuishi ; illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 25, 2018
Kibuishi gives his epic tale a hefty nudge toward its long-building climax while giving readers plenty of reasons to stick...
Stonekeeper Emily frees the elves from their monstrous masked ruler and sets out to rejoin her brother and mother in the series’ penultimate episode.
The multistranded storyline picks up with Emily’s return to the world of Alledia. Now a fiery, destructive phoenix struggling to regain control of her actions, Emily goes on to follow her brother Navin and allies as they battle invading shadows on the nearby world of Typhon, then switches back to human form for a climactic confrontation with the Elf King—in the course of which Emily rips off his mask to a chorus of “ERGH!! NO!!! GRAH! RRGH!! AAAGH!” to expose a rousingly hideous face. Cute animal heads on many figures (the result of a curse) and a scene with benevolent-looking trees provide at least a bit of relief from the grim expressions that all the human and humanoid elven characters almost invariably wear. But along with emphatic sound effects, the battle and action scenes in the cleanly drawn, if sometimes cramped, panels feature huge blasts of fire or energy, intricately detailed giant robots, weirdly eyeless monsters, and wild escapades aplenty to keep the pace’s pedal to the metal. Aliens and AIs in the cast come in a variety of hues, elves are a uniform gray, and except for a brief encounter between Emily and a slightly darker lad, the (uncursed) humans default to white.
Kibuishi gives his epic tale a hefty nudge toward its long-building climax while giving readers plenty of reasons to stick around for it. (Graphic fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-545-85002-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
Share your opinion of this book
More by Kazu Kibuishi
BOOK REVIEW
edited by Kazu Kibuishi
BOOK REVIEW
by Kazu Kibuishi ; illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi
BOOK REVIEW
edited by Kazu Kibuishi
by Remy Lai ; illustrated by Remy Lai ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 15, 2020
This thrilling coming-of-age adventure is both quirky and sincere.
Some things you must learn on your own.
In this graphic/prose hybrid, Henry Khoo embarks on a secret mission. Now that he’s 12, the legal age to travel alone, he has plans to fly from his Australian home to Singapore, where his father lives. As he haphazardly navigates his way to his flight, his tangled motivations slowly unfold. Initially it appears he wants to establish his independence, seeking reprieve from the overbearing eyes of older sister Jie, Mama, and wuxia drama–watching Popo. Soon the comedic narration reveals that Henry is confronting myriad issues: his emotionally and geographically distant father; his waning relationship with his best friend; and his need to hide his secret identity as the creator of the Fly on the Wall website. Spawned from Henry’s sense that he’s invisible to all, his online comics illustrate school gossip—and draw the opprobrium of the school administration. As in Lai’s debut, Pie in the Sky (2019), humorous line drawings punctuate the text and reveal Henry’s inner feelings. Flashbacks deftly illuminate Henry’s emotional journey to a wider worldview and eventual ownership of his feelings. Lai has a talent of not preaching to her readers, instead offering the reassurance that no one is alone in experiencing the painful awkwardness and occasionally harsh realities of growing up. Henry and his family are Chinese, and dialogue is occasionally bilingual.
This thrilling coming-of-age adventure is both quirky and sincere. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-31411-6
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
Share your opinion of this book
More About This Book
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.