A dreamy lad traverses a world inhabited by robots in this loose-jointed picaresque. Falling through a hole atop an ancient mound in Oklahoma, young Code finds himself in the Greater Mekhos Co-Prosperity Sphere, an entirely robotic land set up centuries ago as a science experiment. It is now threatened by its squidlike magnate Immortalis, who has taken the first step toward conquering both Mekhos and Earth by commanding every robot to disassemble itself. Scotching those plans requires much derring-do. Code must escape deadly metal gardeners in the Toparian Wyldes, ride herd on a huge and enthusiastic Atomic Slaughterbot named Gary, defeat a snotty but well-armed defender of Clockwork City and finally ingest the (fortunately small) Robonomicon, a universal database that transforms Code into a powerful cyborg. Along the way, he meets various chatty inhabitants, such as the seemingly endless Infinipede and dinner-party robohostess Lady Watterly. Diaphanous the plot may be, but the climax brings on plenty of large-scale destruction, and fans of Dale Basye’s Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go (2008) and other underworld odysseys will relish the wink-wink satire. (Fantasy/SF. 11-13)
Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59990-280-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2010
Peddle debuts with a small, wordless epiphany that flows like an animated short. A low winter sun first lights a child building a snowman, then, after a gloriously starry night, returns to transform it—to melt it. Leaving most of each page untouched, Peddle assembles a minimum of accurately brushed pictorial elements for each scene: the builder; the snow figure; their lengthening shadows; the rising sun’s coruscating circle in the penultimate picture; a scatter of sticks, coal, and a carrot in the final one. Most children will still prefer The Snowy Day, but others may find layers of meaning beneath the story’s deceptive simplicity. (Picture book. 4-9)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-385-32693-9
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
Stewart and Riddell cap their Edge Chronicles with a large-scale grand tour and cast reunion. Several generations after the events in Freeglader (2004), young orphan Nate Quarter is forced to flee for his life from a murderous mine supervisor—which becomes more or less a theme as, acquiring such doughty companions as the mine owner’s intrepid daughter Eudoxia and Librarian Knight Zelphyius Dax along the way, he comes and goes from Great Glade and several other cities or settlements that have grown up in the vast Deep Woods that border the overhanging Edge of the world. The long journey takes him through multiple battles, chases, rescues and political upheavals to mystical encounters with figures from the past in the ever-dark Night Woods and then on to a climax in the restored airborne city of Sanctaphrax. A huge cast teeming with multiple races of uneasily coexistent goblins, trolls and more, plus Dementor-ish gloamglozers and other deadly predators are all depicted in lovingly minute (and occasionally gruesome) detail in Riddell’s many pen-and-ink portraits and add plenty of color to this vigorous sendoff. (Fantasy. 11-13)
Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-375-83743-2
Page Count: 688
Publisher: David Fickling/Random
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
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