An inventive effort, although too erratic.
Hoffman’s fantasy, sci-fi and time-travel mashup.
Ellie MacReady is 17 years old when she ventures to her first Market—a fantastical bazaar—despite her father’s warning of its potential risks. The Market comes once in a century for only three days. Expecting a marriage proposal from her boyfriend, Joshua, Ellie is content with her life yet curious about the mysterious, mythical Market. When it arrives, she eagerly enters an enchanting world of marvel and delight where she meets the Prince. He whisks her away from Joshua and her family, marries her and gives her a necklace that supposedly protects her. The necklace, however, really controls her and contributes to her misery. At first, the storytelling is exceptional; the tale begins with so much promise, but it spirals into confusion. The book is divided by each Market instead of by chapters. During the second Market, Ellie loses track of the Prince while she runs an errand, and the Market leaves without her. Thus begins her centuries-long hunt for her master. The main hindrance to the story is the incredible, overwhelming span of time. It begins in 1726 and concludes in 2260. When Ellie discovers that the Prince has married someone else, she seethes with rage. Ellie’s fury toward the Prince drives the majority of the novel, which becomes tiresome. Hoffman throws everything imaginable into his story: magic, cloning, time travel, dragons, weaponry, beastly creatures, futuristic science. The prose shines, but the story is so convoluted that it’s a struggle to appreciate it. Ellie seeks revenge on the Prince and pursues her freedom; however, there are a lot of unanswered questions and too few explanations. Perhaps they will be addressed in the planned sequel. Repeatedly, we learn how special the Market is, but the clutter of characters, creatures and centuries diminishes its impact.
An inventive effort, although too erratic.Pub Date: Nov. 22, 2012
ISBN: 978-0988595903
Page Count: 354
Publisher: Ohbalto Media LLC
Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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