A somewhat derivative plot deftly gains altitude, atmosphere, and velocity via vibrant storytelling.
A boy on a future deep-space voyage awakens from suspended animation prematurely and becomes the only human able to take action when marauders invade the ship.
This middle-grade novel by prolific SF/thriller author Wells introduces readers to Su-Shu “Zero” Huang. He is the 12-year-old son of a prominent engineer who worked on the Pathfinder, a skyscraper-sized ship carrying earthlings intending to build a new civilization on a habitable planet 20 light-years away. Zero and his family are among the 20,000 voyagers in stasis for the 105-year journey at one-fifth light-speed to a distant star. But after only 28 days, Zero’s pod malfunctions and revives him—just as the Pathfinder is two days away from a perilous maneuver heading over the edge of the solar system. An adult pilot who should have been on duty is missing, so Zero finds himself completely alone except for Sancho, an artificial intelligence program that assists in maintaining the ship. Sancho tries to help Zero cope with the unexpected development but is limited by its incorporeal nature and machine logic. Then another vessel docks with the Pathfinder, and Zero deduces that he and his helpless fellow humans have become potential victims of space pirates. The audience may recognize the much imitated template of the movie Die Hard (or, if readers want to be literary about it, Roderick Thorp’s novel Nothing Lasts Forever, which inspired the Bruce Willis film), though a Home Alone parallel is equally apt. Antics in this series opener stay in the PG realm, and the plucky youngster uses improvised weapons and fancy moves against his enemies, who oscillate between the scary and the silly (a recurring panic by the bad guys—who really ought to know better—that their nemesis is really an alien definitely leans to the childish). A smattering of Asian names carries a multicultural flavor. Fans may find an echo here of the matriarch-dominated sky pirates from the classic Studio Ghibli cartoon Castle in the Sky. If things stay a little markedly in orbit around juvenile-level dialogue and situations (but no more than Robert Heinlein and Robert Silverberg did in their younger-skewing material), the action is still constant and fairly riveting. Sancho, smartly, is never allowed to become either a convenient, all-purpose solution to the hero’s dilemmas or an R2-D2 stand-in.
A somewhat derivative plot deftly gains altitude, atmosphere, and velocity via vibrant storytelling.Pub Date: Dec. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-70947-472-9
Page Count: 188
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Come for the dragons but stay for the suspenseful reveals and relatable characters.
A lonely and anxious English girl discovers a family secret in this series opener from acclaimed Scottish author Murray.
Twelve-year-old Alex Evans, who presents white, lives a cloistered life with her controlling mother. Her only escape is the nearby forest, which reminds her of her deceased father. There she meets Oliphos, a kind (and oddly dressed) Black man with a Scottish accent, who tells her something surprising about her heritage. Oliphos introduces Alex to Dr. Archibald P. Puppinsworth, a Dragon Scholar who knows all about the Otherworld, the magical dimension where dragons live. Alex realizes that she possesses a special power that might help locate the Phylactery, a long-missing magical object sought by the villainous Drak Midna, a terrifyingly manipulative—and enormous—ancient dragon. Along the way to Skralla, one of the last dragon refuges, with Oliphos, Alex meets Erik, an orphan with “chestnut curls” who understands what it’s like to feel like an outsider. Both young people are battling unknowns and deep loneliness, and their complex characterization feels realistic even though fantasy worldbuilding forms the backdrop of their friendship. Coming from a highly sheltered background, Alex may be naïve at first, but she grows in maturity and bravery as the book progresses. The well-executed worldbuilding includes portals called waypaths and dragons with creative features. Murray explores themes of intolerance through the world’s history of human-dragon conflict.
Come for the dragons but stay for the suspenseful reveals and relatable characters. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9798217113217
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK TO SCREEN
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
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.
