An energetic, sometimes horrifying tale set in an intriguing fantasy world, which may be a bit too complicated for some...
Set in a mythical world centuries ago, this sci-fi fantasy novel for young adults follows the life of Tomas Rios, a teenager living in a small town who finds out he may not be who he thought he was.
Time is broken into the Old World and the New, which began after a great war killed off the ancient dragons that possessed magical powers. Tomas Rios is a skilled healer whose knowledge is highly coveted. His simple life with his adoptive grandparents changes when he meets evil Capt. Cholula, an army leader who wants Tomas for his healing skills. Revealing that Tomas is one of the descendants of a powerful dragon lineage, Cholula requests that he join her army. When he refuses, the outcome is bloody. He returns home to find his Gran-Pere brutally murdered, and shortly after, his foster mother passes away. Determined to seek revenge for their deaths, Tomas embarks on a journey with Capt. Hawkins on his ship. As the evils that brought on the Great War begin to stir again, Tomas’ role in preventing another destructive war becomes crucial. He gets engaged to Pepper, who can take various forms and who gives him strength on his journey. As the story progresses, Tomas learns that he’s the son of Long-Mu, one of the last powerful Dragons, and he’s inherited important powers, including the ability to slow time. While Talon’s narrative can be exciting and fast-paced, and Tomas comes across as a worthy hero, many moments in the story feel a bit jumbled, perhaps since, with so many characters, too much information creeps in. A trilogy setup would allow Talon to create a more solid back story and further develop characters aside from Tomas and Pepper.
An energetic, sometimes horrifying tale set in an intriguing fantasy world, which may be a bit too complicated for some readers.Pub Date: May 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-1626520905
Page Count: 490
Publisher: Mill City Press
Review Posted Online: July 22, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
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
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
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.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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