A scary adventure mixed with shadows and suspense.
Gabe, Lily, Brett, and Kaz are four friends bonded by the elemental powers—fire, air, water, and earth, respectively—gained from a secret friendship ritual performed in series opener The Emerald Tablet (2016).
After having survived an attack on the island of Alcatraz, the four friends have successfully stayed hidden and kept the Emerald Tablet from the evil cult that’s after it, the Eternal Dawn. Their annoying tag-along, Jackson, aka Ghost Boy, a time traveler trapped in the present, becomes a new ally, offering his power of a fifth element, magick. The diverse group of kids (Lily and Brett are Latino, Kaz is Asian-American, and Gabe and Jackson are white) attempt to find the secrets that will destroy Arcadia, or the Shadow World, a dark alternative reality that exists alongside San Francisco. As they use their powers to fight off large, winged batlike creatures and the oozing, flying, tentacled creatures of Arcadia, they also search for clues that will lead them to Gabe’s missing uncle Steve and mother, whom they believe to be trapped in Arcadia. When one of their own shows signs of treachery, what lies behind the betrayal is revealed by the evil leader of the cult, Jonathan Thorne. This sequel is a bit darker than its predecessor, as Jolley adds such icky details as blood cocoons, along with an ending that is reminiscent of Stranger Things, an unsettling cliffhanger readers might want not to encounter just before bedtime.
A scary adventure mixed with shadows and suspense. (Fantasy. 9-13)Pub Date: July 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-241167-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
Readers will gobble this down and look for more, make no mythtake.
Promising myth-adventures aplenty, this kickoff episode introduces young Zeus, “a very special, yet clueless godboy.”
After 10-year-old Zeus is plucked from his childhood cave in Crete by armed “Cronies” of the Titan king, Cronus, he is rescued by harpies. He then finds himself in a Grecian temple where he acquires a lightning bolt with the general personality of a puppy and receives hints of his destiny from an Oracle with fogged eyeglasses. Recaptured and about to be eaten by Cronus, Zeus hurls the bolt down the Titan’s throat—causing the king to choke and then, thanks to an alert Crony’s Heimlich maneuver, to barf up several previously eaten Olympians. Spooning in numerous ingredients from the origin myth’s traditional versions, the veteran authors whip up a smooth confection, spiced with both gross bits and contemporary idiom (“ ‘Eew!’ a voice shrieked. ‘This is disgusting!’ ”) and well larded with full-page illustrations (not seen). One thorough washing later, off marches the now-cocky lad with new allies Poseidon and Hera, to rescue more Olympians in the next episode.
Readers will gobble this down and look for more, make no mythtake. (Fantasy. 9-11)Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-5787-4
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2012
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Fun at (ahem) times, but readers of the opener are going to be let down by the revelation that it didn’t count.
Six months after tackling invading aliens in Finn and the Intergalactic Lunchbox (2020), young Finn now takes on a time-traveling monster at the behest of his much older self.
A jumble of clever twists and goofy set pieces that never quite coalesce into coherence, the tale sends Finn Foley and buddies Lincoln Sidana and Julep Li on a long series of short time hops to eras past and present—in some of which they participate in or watch running battles between their older selves and an armored monster named Paradox who proclaims a vague intention to destroy time, or rule the universe, or something. Meanwhile, hotly pursuing Time Rangers who dress and talk like cowboys place hastily made clones that look like the trio but act like cats in the present day to serve as stand-ins…to the consternation of Finn’s baffled but take-charge little sister, Kate. In the climactic battle, Paradox survives attacks from saber-toothed tigers and armies of Revolutionary War soldiers as well as futuristic energy weapons but unravels at last when Finn reboots the entire timeline. Unfortunately, that puts a number of significant events in the previous volume in the “never happened” category. Their surnames cue Julep and Lincoln as Asian; some Rangers are people of color, and the rest of the cast presents as White.
Fun at (ahem) times, but readers of the opener are going to be let down by the revelation that it didn’t count. (Science fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 30, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-525-64691-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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