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THE FLYING WOMAN

Name: THE FLYING WOMAN
Author: Daniel Sherrier
ISBN: 978-1-72861-674-2

From the Terrific series , Vol. 1

by Daniel Sherrier ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 10, 2018

A familiar but entertaining take on the superhero genre.

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After a mysterious encounter with a dying woman, an aspiring actress suddenly gains superpowers in Sherrier’s (Earths in Space, 2013, etc.) superhero novel.

Miranda Thomas is a young woman living in Olympus City, with a nascent acting career, overprotective parents, and typical middle-child dynamics with her two sisters. All of this changes, however, when she comes in contact with a mortally wounded woman with electricity-based superpowers who then disappears in front of her; soon, Miranda discovers that she now has powers of flight and super-strength. After a series of heroic actions covered by the media—such as preventing a plane crash (which she accidentally started) and defusing a hostage situation—she assumes the name Ultra Woman and joins two other superheroes, Fantastic Man and Mr. Amazing. Dubbed the Terrific Trio, they start piecing together clues about the origins of their powers, all while facing Olympus City’s first supervillain. Sherrier offers a thrilling origin story in this series starter. In certain aspects, his fast-paced novel feels very much like a comic book, as it embraces some stereotypical aspects of the genre (secret identities, a stark good-versus-evil setup). Nevertheless, the author plays with the form in refreshing ways, as the book pokes fun at superhero clichés in a self-aware fashion. For example, for a good part of the novel, Miranda refuses to wear a cape or tights, insisting on donning “nothing a normal person would refuse to wear in public setting.” Her older sister, Bianca, meanwhile, is depicted as “cringing, questioning, and condemning all at once” Fantastic Man’s over-the-top heroic mannerisms. It’s this deviation from the norm that makes Miranda’s journey shine. At the conclusion, there are still many unanswered questions for subsequent novels to tackle.

A familiar but entertaining take on the superhero genre.

Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-72861-674-2

Page Count: 344

Publisher: Time Tunnel Media

Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2019

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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MAGIC HOUR

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

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Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.

Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

Pub Date: March 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-345-46752-3

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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by Kristin Hannah

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by Kristin Hannah

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THE GREAT ALONE
by Kristin Hannah

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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.

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A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.

"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.