by Christina Diaz Gonzalez ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 25, 2015
An adventure that will keep readers engaged until the cliffhanger ending and leave them waiting for the next book.
Take a precious relic, add a secret organization and an ancient brotherhood, throw in some action, place it all in the Eternal City, and what do you get? A grand adventure!
Cassie Arroyo is bored at her new school in Rome, but all that changes when her normally calm dad collects her from school and reveals there are secrets he should have told her. Now they are out of time, because someone is determined to kill her. When a bullet meant for Cassie wounds her father instead, Cassie must leave him at a hospital and seek Brother Gregorio, the only person who can help. And so starts this adventure that will involve the secret organization of the Hastati; the Holy Lance of Longinus, a holy relic that can shape the future; a birthmark that distinguishes the true descendants of St. Longinus—which Cassie bears; and the ancient brotherhood of the Knights of Malta. With the help of her best friend, Simone, and Brother Gregorio’s nephew Asher, the spunky heroine must decipher riddles, follow clues, and make life-or-death decisions. Gonzalez focuses on plot and action in this series opener. Some readers might long for more historical background and better fleshed-out secondary characters, but this is nevertheless an exciting and entertaining adventure.
An adventure that will keep readers engaged until the cliffhanger ending and leave them waiting for the next book. (Adventure. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-77318-8
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
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by K.R. Alexander ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 7, 2022
Thrills galore for gamers willing to go along for the ride.
A new virtual-reality theme park goes haywire on a crowd of young victims, er, visitors in Alexander’s latest screamfest.
Having scored one of just 100 coveted preview tickets to a cutting-edge, kids-only venue dubbed ESCAPE, budding amusement park fan and designer Cody Baxter is looking forward to a life-changing experience. What he gets is more of a life-threatening one, as games and rides with names like Triassic Terror and Haunted Hillside not only pit him against a monster and then zombies—or sometimes a monster and zombies—as well as ruthless competing players, but seem tailored to play on individual personal terrors. And, in some never explained way, the VR quickly turns into real battles that inflict real wounds even as the real settings shift with sudden, dizzying unpredictability. Teaming up with loyal new friends Jayson Torn and Inga Andersdottir, the former described as being Japanese and White and the latter as Norwegian, Cody (who seems to default to White) struggles for survival, learning ultimately that ESCAPE was created by an evil genius with an ulterior motive who is convinced that he can teach children a salutary lesson. The plot’s no more logical in its twists and contrivances than the premise, but the author’s knack for spinning out nightmarish situations is definitely on display here as the tale careens toward a properly lurid outcome.
Thrills galore for gamers willing to go along for the ride. (Light horror. 9-12)Pub Date: June 7, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-26047-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2022
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by Lamar Giles ; illustrated by Dapo Adeola ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 2, 2019
This can’t be the last we ever hear of the Legendary Alston Boys of the purely surreal Logan County—imaginative,...
Can this really be the first time readers meet the Legendary Alston Boys of Logan County? Cousins and veteran sleuths Otto and Sheed Alston show us that we are the ones who are late to their greatness.
These two black boys are coming to terms with the end of their brave, heroic summer at Grandma’s, with a return to school just right around the corner. They’ve already got two keys to the city, but the rival Epic Ellisons—twin sisters Wiki and Leen—are steadily gaining celebrity across Logan County, Virginia, and have in hand their third key to the city. No way summer can end like this! These young people are powerful, courageous, experienced adventurers molded through their heroic commitment to discipline and deduction. They’ve got their shared, lifesaving maneuvers committed to memory (printed in a helpful appendix) and ready to save any day. Save the day they must, as a mysterious, bendy gentleman and an oversized, clingy platypus have been unleashed on the city of Fry, and all the residents and their belongings seem to be frozen in time and place. Will they be able to solve this one? With total mastery, Giles creates in Logan County an exuberant vortex of weirdness, where the commonplace sits cheek by jowl with the utterly fantastic, and populates it with memorable characters who more than live up to their setting.
This can’t be the last we ever hear of the Legendary Alston Boys of the purely surreal Logan County—imaginative, thrill-seeking readers, this is a series to look out for. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-46083-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Versify/HMH
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
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by Lamar Giles ; illustrated by Derick Brooks
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