This spinoff is funny and thrilling from beginning to end, and thoughtful writing gives the action added depth and emotional...
In this first novel based on the popular online anime series RWBY, four teens are sent to a small town in a forbidding desert to help a group of refugees fight the monstrous Grimm that stalk them.
Coco, Fox, Velvet, and Yatsuhashi, also known as Team CFVY, are training to become Huntsmen and Huntresses—warriors who protect people from Grimm, a variety of terrifying beasts that are drawn to negative emotions. They left Beacon Academy for a new school after Beacon was destroyed by Grimm, and Team CFVY’s story is an engaging offshoot of the anime that focuses on their friends, Team RWBY. Each Hunter and Huntress has a signature weapon and a supernatural power, and within the fantasy world of Remnant, there are multiple species and ethnicities, some of which face prejudice and racism. Myers (Mother of Invention, 2018, etc.) does a terrific job of explaining this world to newcomers and, amid the nonstop action and thrilling battle scenes, also manages to portray the four friends three-dimensionally through witty dialogue and flashbacks. Even secondary characters have complexity, making the world feel immersive and present. As the Grimm attacks become more frequent and intense, the friends must search for the mysterious cause, protect the townspeople, and battle their demons—both internally and externally.
This spinoff is funny and thrilling from beginning to end, and thoughtful writing gives the action added depth and emotional impact. (Fantasy. 12-18)Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-30574-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: April 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
Opening episodes of a comic-book series created by an American teacher in Japan take a leap into chapter-book format, with only partial success. Resembling—in occasional illustrations—a button-eyed, juvenile Olive Oyl, Akiko, 10, is persuaded by a pair of aliens named Bip and Bop to climb out her high-rise bedroom’s window for a trip to M&M-shaped Planet Smoo, where Prince Fropstoppit has been kidnapped by widely feared villainness Alia Rellaport. Along with an assortment of contentious sidekicks, including brainy Mr. Beeba, Akiko battles Sky Pirates and video-game-style monsters in prolonged scenes of cartoony violence, displaying resilience, courage, and leadership ability, but not getting very far in her rescue attempt; in fact, the story cuts off so abruptly, with so little of the quest completed, and at a lull in the action to boot, that readers expecting a self-contained (forget complete) story are likely to feel cheated. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 8, 2000
ISBN: 0-385-32724-2
Page Count: 162
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This first fantastic installment of the His Dark Materials trilogy propels readers along with horror and high adventure, a...
Pullman (The Tin Princess, 1994, etc.) returns to the familiar territory of Victorian England, but this time inhabits an alternate Earth, where magic is an ordinary fact of life.
Lyra Belacqua and her daemon familiar Pantalaimon spend their days teasing the scholars of Jordan College until her uncle, Lord Asriel, announces that he's learned of astonishing events taking place in the far north involving the aurora borealis. When Lyra rescues Asriel from an attempt on his life, it is only the beginning of a torrent of events that finds Lyra willingly abducted by the velvet Mrs. Coulter, a missionary of pediatric atrocities; a journey with gyptian clansmen to rescue the children who are destined to be severed from their daemons (an act that is clearly hideous); and Lyra's discovery of her unusual powers and destiny. Lyra may suffer from excessive spunk, but she is thorough, intelligent, and charming. The author's care in recreating Victorian speech affectations never hinders the action; copious amounts of gore will not dissuade the squeamish, for resonating at the story's center is the twinkling image of a celestial city.
This first fantastic installment of the His Dark Materials trilogy propels readers along with horror and high adventure, a shattering tale that begins with a promise and delivers an entire universe. (Fiction. 12+)Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 978-0-679-87942-4
Page Count: 397
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1996
SEEN & HEARD
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