With many of the wrinkles from Volume 1 ironed out here, there are just a few more to manage to make Volume 3 a corker of a...
In this sequel to Knights of the Borrowed Dark (2016), Denizen Hardwick, along with his friends Simon Hayes and Abigail Falx, are Neophytes in the Order of the Borrowed Dark.
They now live in a house in Seraphim Row under the care of Denizen’s newly discovered mother, Vivian Hardwick, a Knight Superior of the order. There, Denizen and his friends train to defend it. Some of their fiercest enemies are the nefarious Tenebrous, dark, shape-shifting creatures who live in a sort of in-between world and who have powers that Denizen seems to be able to channel. As he feels he is losing his ability to control these powers, he is offered help by an unlikely ally, one he must convince his mother to trust if they are to protect the order from a possible assassination that could incite an interdimensional war. In this middle volume, Denizen is forced to call upon his courage to protect the order from dark forces that wish to destroy it. Though Rudden creates compelling, likable characters in this fierce, magical world, there is a repetitiveness to the narrative that slows up a rather lengthy book. The numerous interleaved scenes with Denizen’s secret ally give the story a “let’s get on with it” feel. Abigail is described with dark skin; the white default seems to apply to the rest of the principals.
With many of the wrinkles from Volume 1 ironed out here, there are just a few more to manage to make Volume 3 a corker of a conclusion. (Fantasy. 10-15)Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-553-52301-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2017
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious.
If you made a recording to be heard by the aliens who found the iPod, what would you record?
For 11-year-old Alex Petroski, it's easy. He records everything. He records the story of how he travels to New Mexico to a rocket festival with his dog, Carl Sagan, and his rocket. He records finding out that a man with the same name and birthday as his dead father has an address in Las Vegas. He records eating at Johnny Rockets for the first time with his new friends, who are giving him a ride to find his dead father (who might not be dead!), and losing Carl Sagan in the wilds of Las Vegas, and discovering he has a half sister. He even records his own awful accident. Cheng delivers a sweet, soulful debut novel with a brilliant, refreshing structure. His characters manage to come alive through the “transcript” of Alex’s iPod recording, an odd medium that sounds like it would be confusing but really works. Taking inspiration from the Voyager Golden Record released to space in 1977, Alex, who explains he has “light brown skin,” records all the important moments of a journey that takes him from a family of two to a family of plenty.
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-18637-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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