Best for existing series fans.
This Dragon Rider novel, written in English rather than translated from German like previous entries, pits the Greenblooms and fabulous creatures against an evil acquaintance from Barnabas’ schooldays.
An ancient myth states if waterfowl form swirling, flowerlike images on four different bodies of water, the mythical Aurelia, bearing healing pods, will appear where the lines connecting these locations intersect. It seems this is now happening, and the Greenblooms are preparing by calling the magical earth, air, fire, and water creatures who will carry the four pods to their appropriate realms. However, if the Aurelia or her pods are met with violence, she will cause all the fabulous creatures on Earth to disappear. While the Greenblooms and their magical friends are preparing to welcome the Aurelia, evil Cadoc Eelstrom is preparing to steal one of the pods to make himself immortal. The execution of this basic good-versus-evil plot is incohesive and disjointed. While the narrative voice changes with each chapter, the progression of the plot, alas, does not. Readers, reminded for the umpteenth time that the Aurelia will make all fabulous creatures disappear if she is angered, may begin to feel frustrated. Plunked on top of the thin plot are snippets describing the properties of the many magical creatures the author introduces, but these many, undeniably imaginative embellishments cannot resurrect a story that doesn’t have depth and characters that lack nuance. Black-and-white illustrations add a whimsical touch. Most human characters read as White.
Best for existing series fans. (cast of characters) (Fantasy. 10-13)Pub Date: June 7, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-21555-7
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Chicken House/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
It’s great to see these kids “so enthusiastic about committing high treason.” (historical note) (Historical fiction. 10-12)
Near the end of World War II, two kids join their parents in a plot to kill Adolf Hitler.
Max, 12, lives with his parents and his older sister in a Berlin that’s under constant air bombardment. During one such raid, a mortally wounded man stumbles into the white German family’s home and gasps out his last wish: “The Führer must die.” With this nighttime visitation, Max and Gerta discover their parents have been part of a resistance cell, and the siblings want in. They meet a colorful band of upper-class types who seem almost too whimsical to be serious. Despite her charming levity, Prussian aristocrat and cell leader Frau Becker is grimly aware of the stakes. She enlists Max and Gerta as couriers who sneak forged identification papers to Jews in hiding. Max and Gerta are merely (and realistically) cogs in the adults’ plans, but there’s plenty of room for their own heroism. They escape capture, rescue each other when they’re caught out during an air raid, and willingly put themselves repeatedly at risk to catch a spy. The fictional plotters—based on a mix of several real anti-Hitler resistance cells—are portrayed with a genuine humor, giving them the space to feel alive even in such a slim volume.
It’s great to see these kids “so enthusiastic about committing high treason.” (historical note) (Historical fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: April 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-35902-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
Still pedal to the metal, but running on fumes at this point.
Young bandits complete personal quests while creating immense explosions and massive havoc in this high-action trilogy closer.
Playing to his strengths, Stroud strings together a bank robbery, an ambush that nearly sees Scarlett McCain eaten by cannibalistic Tainted, and other increasingly lurid, violent set pieces, propelling a plot that moves along at a breakneck pace to a climactic battle. In interspersed chapters, neither Thomas (the little brother Scarlett was forced to abandon and has been seeking for eight years) nor the faithful sidekick he acquires come off as more than pale reflections of the lead duo as the author moves them mechanically through contrived adventures. Scarlett’s own sidekick Albert Browne’s search for the secret prison where he and other children with psychic powers have been ruthlessly trained is similarly cursorily wrapped up. And what of the series’ broader ongoing struggles with the local slave trade and the corrupt Faith Houses? Here, too, the author drops the ball at the end. Readers who delight in titanic explosions, swashbuckling young troublemakers escaping through hails of gunfire, and foes coming to squishy ends will be pleased; those who like stories that offer more definite closure and their heroes and supporting characters to show meaningful growth, less so. Some racial diversity is cued in the cast surrounding the white leads.
Still pedal to the metal, but running on fumes at this point. (maps) (Science fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780593707364
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
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