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Runes

Name: Runes
Author: Ednah Walters

From the A Runes Novel series , Vol. 1

by Ednah Walters ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 7, 2014

Aptly introduces characters and relationships, while merely teasing the story’s fantastical qualities.

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A teenage girl yearns for the guy next door, even when it turns out he’s immortal, in this first installment of Walters’ (Demons, 2015, etc.) YA paranormal romance series.

Raine Cooper, nearly 17, has been best friends with Eirik Seville ever since they were kids. But just when romance develops between the two, Raine attracts the interest of dishy new neighbor Torin St. James. And there’s something special about Torin beyond his looks: he somehow scratches her Sentra without anyone seeing him near it. Raine scoffs at his claim of magic, but when cracked ribs impede her breathing, Torin’s there, and her pain inexplicably vanishes. As it happens, he’s an Immortal, and Raine’s caught the attention of a few more: Andris and sisters Maliina and Ingrid, Norwegian exchange students in Kayville, Oregon. Far from a run-of-the-mill Mortal, Raine can see the Immortals’ magical runes drawn on skin or walls. It’s clear that Maliina hates Raine (having provided her with the rib-cracking), but there may be another threat to the teen, who’s too scared to drive her car, which someone covered in runes. Even if Torin’s intent on protecting Raine, he’s not exactly forthcoming, refusing to explain precisely what Immortals are. Once Raine finally gets answers, she’ll make a decision that will change her life forever. Like any effective series opener, this novel brims with mystery. There’s a hint, for example, that Raine’s father, missing since a plane crash only months before, may have a connection to Torin and the others. The plot centers on romance, a mutual attraction (primarily Raine ogling Torin) that deepens as the two stay on each other’s minds constantly. It’s melodramatically enticing—and perhaps a little cruel—that, despite Torin’s undeniable appeal, Raine keeps Eirik around. The devotion of so much of the narrative to the love triangle unfortunately sidelines the supernatural elements. Nevertheless, a stirring final act clarifies the Immortals, not only their purpose, but their plan as well, putting more than one person in danger. There’s plenty left unresolved for future books, including Eirik, who seems to know more about Torin than he lets on.

Aptly introduces characters and relationships, while merely teasing the story’s fantastical qualities.

Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 245

Publisher: Firetrail Publishing

Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2016

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

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GOING SOLO

by Roald Dahl illustrated by Quentin Blake ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1986

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A delightfully captivating swatch of autobiography from the author of Kiss. Kiss, Switch Bitch and many others. Schoolboy Dahl wanted adventure. Classes bored him, there was work to be had in Africa, and war clouds loomed on the world's horizons. He finds himself with a trainee's job with Shell Oil of East Africa and winds up in what is now Tanzania. Then war comes in 1939 and Dahl's adventures truly begin. At the war's outbreak, Dahl volunteers for the RAF, signing on to be a fighter pilot. Wounded in the Libyan desert, he spends six months recuperating in a military hospital, then rejoins his unit in Greece, only to be driven back by the advancing Germans. On April 20, 1941, he goes head on against the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Athens. On-target bio installment with, one hopes, lots more of this engrossing life to come.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1986

ISBN: 0142413836

Page Count: 209

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: Oct. 16, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1986

Categories:

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT HISTORICAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
QUENTIN BLAKE'S FANTASTIC JOURNEYS
by Quentin Blake ; illustrated by Quentin Blake

- BOOK REVIEW
<i>MONA LISA</i> AND THE OTHERS
by Alice Harman ; illustrated by Quentin Blake

- BOOK REVIEW
ROALD DAHL SHAPES
developed by Roald Dahl ; illustrated by Quentin Blake

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MONSTER

by Walter Dean Myers ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 31, 1999

The format of this taut and moving drama forcefully regulates the pacing; breathless, edge-of-the-seat courtroom scenes...

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In a riveting novel from Myers (At Her Majesty’s Request, 1999, etc.), a teenager who dreams of being a filmmaker writes the story of his trial for felony murder in the form of a movie script, with journal entries after each day’s action.

Steve is accused of being an accomplice in the robbery and murder of a drug store owner. As he goes through his trial, returning each night to a prison where most nights he can hear other inmates being beaten and raped, he reviews the events leading to this point in his life. Although Steve is eventually acquitted, Myers leaves it up to readers to decide for themselves on his protagonist’s guilt or innocence.

The format of this taut and moving drama forcefully regulates the pacing; breathless, edge-of-the-seat courtroom scenes written entirely in dialogue alternate with thoughtful, introspective journal entries that offer a sense of Steve’s terror and confusion, and that deftly demonstrate Myers’s point: the road from innocence to trouble is comprised of small, almost invisible steps, each involving an experience in which a “positive moral decision” was not made. (Fiction. 12-14)