by David Walker ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 9, 2018
A fun but chaotic fantasy series starter.
In this middle-grade fantasy, a brave teen makes a dangerous journey in order to aid his sick grandmother.
Tyler, who prefers the nickname “Ty,” has two best friends, Dylan and Xavier. They’re all playing cards in their treehouse in old man Grady’s backyard when Ty’s younger brother, Bob, pops in and exclaims that their dad has been injured. He’d been digging for blue fire rubies beneath Eagle Cliff when a cave collapsed. The rubies, in the hands of a skilled doctor like Ty’s mom, can be used to create effective healing potions. Ty’s ailing grandmother needs them, and with Eagle Cliff closed off, the next place to search for rubies is the Shadow Forest. Although it’s full of dangerous creatures, such as the horned rinog, Ty manages to sneak into it. He fashions several weapons, including a bow and arrows, and heads for Crystal Mountain. There, he meets a 50-foot-long “vipercon” serpent named Normack who initially wants to eat him for dinner. But when Ty stands up to the snake, he gains a friend. Later, the hero creates a black sword, crackling with power, from the skin of a giant “life leech.” Normack then says that Ty reminds him of the legendary warrior Cobasfang. For his debut, Walker delights in blurring the line between the familiar and the surreal. He doesn’t name Ty’s hometown, but it has some modern elements, such as a high school and a swimming pool; at the same time, it’s surrounded by protective razor bushes. Ty’s quest is playfully meandering, featuring swamps, caves, and the hidden kingdom of Zintar. Along the way, the boy battles a parade of odd creatures, including giant cave rats, the Norgon scavengers who ride them, and a rock monster named Grog. Walker’s principal lesson to young readers is that “knowing when to enter a dangerous area and when to avoid one is a sign of maturity.” The drama of the grandparent’s illness, however, doesn’t provide much narrative cohesion; instead, Walker simply throws in one danger after another until he decides to set up a sequel.
A fun but chaotic fantasy series starter.Pub Date: July 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-64214-457-4
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
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
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
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
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