Propulsive solarpunk.
In this third series installment, Ash faces new tests of courage and character in helping to defend his charge, Prince Khufu, and all of Egypt from an invading three-headed lion god from Kush.
Following a set piece chariot race in which, against his inclinations, he saves the life of a bully he aptly dubs “Merk the Jerk,” Ash and his mixed bag of friends, royal and otherwise, fly south aboard the mystical Bennu Bird. They’re hoping to track down Khufu’s traitorous older brother, Prince Rami, and Rami’s (supposed) ally, Set, god of chaos and mischief. Unfortunately, following false starts with Gilgamesh and Anatolian weather god Tarhunz, Set has in the meantime advanced his scheme to conquer solar-powered Egypt by getting Apedemak, the Kushite lion god of war, interested in an invasion of Egypt. The stage is set for a boss battle between Apedemak, who loves a good brawl and commands all lions living or dead, and the gods of Egypt, joined by Shana, the peaceful but powerful queen of Kush, and the nature spirits she can summon. Durham weaves mythological tidbits galore into an engrossing climactic whirl of watery wrangles and awesome exploits on and in the Nile, then neatly wraps up his storyline with just deserts for the trickster Set, mended fences for the royal family, and, for Ash, glimpses of a bright past and future. The cast members are largely cued Black.
Propulsive solarpunk. (Fantasy. 9-13)Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781643797434
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Tu Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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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
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
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