An interesting premise, but requires another installment to fully realize the characters and plot threads introduced.
Daniel Rooke, soldier-turned-cop, gets his toughest assignment yet when he takes charge of a special operations unit comprising supernaturally gifted soldiers.
The future of the world in Varni’s novel is very different from our own: In the aftermath of the Sol War, “Specials,” people with supernatural abilities ranging from telekinesis to super strength, find themselves on the outskirts of society, despite the pivotal role they played in the war. Unable to find jobs or housing, many must either turn to crime or to the government, the only entity willing to employ them. Into this world comes Daniel Rooke, who is recruited to lead a team of Specials and train them to find those other Specials who can’t seem to stay under the radar. Before they can enter the field, Daniel has to win the trust of the team and of his superiors, an immensely challenging task. As a non-Special, it is difficult for Daniel to convince his team that he can understand them well enough to lead them. After a series of mishaps, Daniel gets his team functioning, and together they recruit or arrest troublemaking Specials. The process is rife with racial overtones—after Daniel alienates the only black and Asian members of his original team, diversity becomes a high recruitment priority. The Specials found through this process—teleporting Joseph and lightning-wielding Christine, among others, are among the most well-developed characters in the book, with back stories and motivations that outshine those of Daniel and his team. It’s a struggle, at first, to keep straight the many similar no-nonsense, tough ex-military men in the first several chapters. The plot progresses from one special assignment to the next, all while introducing new plot threads and threats, few of which come to fruition. The end of the story is an intense cliffhanger, suggesting this is part of a multibook series.
An interesting premise, but requires another installment to fully realize the characters and plot threads introduced.Pub Date: May 9, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615566955
Page Count: 460
Publisher: D.E. Varni
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An ambitious attempt undermined by an aimless plot and flat dialogue.
Putala’s debut explores unrequited love and other hardships in this coming-of-age novel set at a Northeastern college.
Jamie Tarnowski, a student at Amherst College, is infatuated with classmate Jessica Dorfmann, aka “the Princess.” Although Jamie maintains a busy social life on campus, he suffers regular rejection from Jessica. When he isn’t thinking about her, Jamie ponders the lives of writers and hopes to join their ranks. His ties to the town of Amherst are complicated: His mother graduated from University of Massachusetts Amherst, where his father was a professor. As a child, Jamie asked his mother to explain the difference between the state university and the private college. She told him Amherst College is “where you get to go if you’re very smart and very lucky. People of privilege send their sons there.” Despite this promising setup, Jamie’s story grows dull and repetitive. Too many characters appear, yet too few are sufficiently described. Conversations are cluttered with small talk, and the richer dialogue flirts with pontification. “Does liberal arts still exist?” Jamie asks his father. When his father suggests that “a college can become a place for vocational training,” Jamie responds that the pressure to earn money “could totally take humanity off whatever positive track it might be on, and just become this cold world where everyone works for the economy and there’s no higher meaning or beauty or anything like that.” Jamie’s thoughts are often variations on clichés: “You can lead a horse to water, but fail in making him drink it” or “Life comes at you in waves.” Presumably pivotal moments—a car accident, a physical threat, the death of the family dog—are glossed over, while classroom discussion is presented in excessive detail. Even the Princess remains underdeveloped and opaque.
An ambitious attempt undermined by an aimless plot and flat dialogue.Pub Date: June 21, 2010
ISBN: 978-1434874528
Page Count: 268
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
May be of great value to those interested in the history of Chinese studies in America and/or the Library of Congress.
Wang offers his account of his tenure as head of the Chinese collection of the Library of Congress.
Academic in style and scope, Wang has collected his various writings that center on Chinese culture, publishing and library collections. Starting with his many years working for the Library of Congress, the author maps out his life, from his marriage and Ph.D. to the years of the Cultural Revolution in China and the Tiananmen Square protests. Attention is given to the nature of the library system and the publication processes throughout China; these are told mostly via firsthand accounts of Wang’s visits there. Throughout the work, there is an underlying theme that the Library of Congress has long played a role in the cultural history of China. He notes a remark from the Honorable Elaine Chao, secretary of labor, “The Chinese collection at the Library of Congress is indeed our nation’s crown jewel.” But not all attention is given strictly to the Library of Congress, as other libraries, specifically those of China and of Hong Kong, are also discussed. Moving beyond the historical, Wang gives recommendations for future plans of action, such as recommending that Chinese scholars involved in American studies be given opportunities to come to the U.S. on study tours. The range here is broad—the Hong Kong University Library, a trip to the Chinese Film Festival of 1982, the teaching of U.S. History in the People’s Republic of China—and competently covered.
May be of great value to those interested in the history of Chinese studies in America and/or the Library of Congress.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0810885486
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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