A plucky orphan runs away to join an intergalactic circus in this frenetic science-fiction/adventure tale.
After bullies at the Bleeker Academy for Girls prevent her from attending a gymnastics competition—and thus becoming an astronaut—and a mysterious man visits her in the middle of the night, 15-year-old Beatrix Ling finds refuge with a space-faring circus. The performers aboard the Big Top are all Tinker-touched, spreading diversity and color where the descendants of the Mandate leave conformity and order. Trix’s suddenly pink hair helps her fit in, but she seems to lack superpowers like her classmates’. Trying to juggle homework—because even spaceships have school—the social scene and her budding affection for the enigmatic Ringmaster, Trix must also protect her parents’ special rock and outrun the villainous Nyl, an agent of the Mandate. The razzle-dazzle of circus life in outer space and the constant action offer plenty of distraction from the sometimes contrived plot, abundant similes and occasionally melodramatic dialogue. Fagan’s (The Magical Misadventures of Prunella Bogthistle, 2010) vibrant and tactile descriptions make for a cinematic read, and certain elements are reminiscent of such fantasy and science-fiction mainstays as Doctor Who, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Harry Potter.
A book that reaches for the stars and provides a thrilling ride. (Science fiction. 12 & up)
Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-58136-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
While 11 is a time in a girl’s life when her body is undergoing changes, Linnet’s physical changes are highly unusual—she is growing wings. To her amazement, this bizarre fact doesn’t surprise her mother Sarah, who it turns out also had wings at Linnet’s age. But Linnet’s grandmother had cut off Sarah’s wings, not being able to imagine her navigating her way though life with them. After the school term ends, Linnet insists on going to look for, as she puts it, “anyone else like me.” After several days of travel and after being abandoned by her mother, Linnet ends up at her grandmother’s, who takes Linnet to an isolated house way up in the mountains, a secret place where other winged people live. Safe in the community of others like herself, Linnet and one of the others, Andy, try to teach themselves to fly but for various aeronautical reasons, they are both unable to. Linnet and Andy finally realize that they are unwilling to hide for the rest of their lives, even if it means being called freaks by intolerant people. The two kids decide to take their chances in the outside world with non-winged people. Oddly, there is not much explanation and surprisingly little discussion in the book about how and why these particular people grew wings and what the significance is. While a few theories are bandied about, none are really explored. The plot and characterizations are not skillfully crafted enough to allow a suspension of disbelief, and the book veers towards pomposity, seemingly raising weighty, philosophical themes, but never really taking flight. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-618-07405-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2000
A solitary teenager discovers some distinguished company sharing his private place in this beguilingly matter-of-fact ghost story. The Cotswolds hilltop visible from Evan’s bedroom window has always been special to him, but never so much as after the day he climbs up to survey the surrounding countryside and finds a child with antique dress and manners sitting next to him. Her name is Alice, she says, before vanishing as mysteriously as she came. Being reasonably well-read, he recognizes her almost immediately—as readers will, if not from her description, then from Bailey’s Tenniel-style illustrations. She returns on subsequent days, to borrow his binoculars, play croquet (with wooden mallets), and make odd, past-tense pronouncements. Before bidding him goodbye, she tells him that she once stayed in the room that is now his, and also loved the hilltop. King-Smith ends on a warmly sentimental note, fast-forwarding more than six decades to a scene in which Evan, now an old man, takes his 12-year-old granddaughter up the hill to tell her about the encounter. Aside from its literary pleasures, this perfect little jewel of a tale will prompt readers to think about the places that are special in their own lives. (Fiction. 10-13)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-517-80047-0
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2000
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