by Elizabeth Paulson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 25, 2015
Fairy-tale retellings grow like briar hedges; there’s no reason to read this one when so many better efforts exist.
A mishmash of fairy-tale influences and images underlies this debut.
Kate Hood has only an old grandmother, and they live together in the woods. When wolves set upon her as she carries groceries home from the village and she finds their cottage empty, she flees to Jack Haricot (exiled after that thing with the giant). Nan left a series of tapestries depicting imprisoned young women—one with a shorn head, another surrounded by poisoned apples, and a third locked in a hot cell with her twin brother. Sadly, these characters are mostly neither named nor seen for more than a few minutes in Kate’s visions. Kate and Jack, meanwhile, are summoned to the king and told to rescue the princess, who has been (nonsensically) kidnapped; they set off, fall in love, and save the day. As in the fairy tales that give this some structure, the world is thinly sketched at best, characters are representations, and action occurs because the plot dictates it. The writing is clumsy, overt and unsubtle, with some full-on malapropisms (“clairvoyant lungs”), and the tone is anachronistic (rented rooms and tin cans side by side with a pastoral, industry-free society) and dated at the same time (Kate refers to schooling Jack in “the cautious listening of women”).
Fairy-tale retellings grow like briar hedges; there’s no reason to read this one when so many better efforts exist. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-64046-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
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BOOK REVIEW
edited by Stephanie Higgs & Elizabeth Paulson
by Sarah Arthur ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 30, 2024
Evocations of Narnia are not enough to salvage this fantasy, which struggles with thin character development.
A portal fantasy survivor story from an established devotional writer.
Fourteen-year-old Eva’s maternal grandmother lives on a grand estate in England; Eva and her academic parents live in New Haven, Connecticut. When she and Mum finally visit Carrick Hall, Eva is alternately resentful at what she’s missed and overjoyed to connect with sometimes aloof Grandmother. Alongside questions of Eva’s family history, the summer is permeated by a greater mystery surrounding the work of fictional children’s fantasy writer A.H.W. Clifton, who wrote a Narnialike series that Eva adores. As it happens, Grandmother was one of several children who entered and ruled Ternival, the world of Clifton’s books; the others perished in 1952, and Grandmother hasn’t recovered. The Narnia influences are strong—Eva’s grandmother is the Susan figure who’s repudiated both magic and God—and the ensuing trauma has created rifts that echo through her relationships with her daughter and granddaughter. An early narrative implication that Eva will visit Ternival to set things right barely materializes in this series opener; meanwhile, the religious parable overwhelms the magic elements as the story winds on. The serviceable plot is weakened by shallow characterization. Little backstory appears other than that which immediately concerns the plot, and Eva tends to respond emotionally as the story requires—resentful when her seething silence is required, immediately trusting toward characters readers need to trust. Major characters are cued white.
Evocations of Narnia are not enough to salvage this fantasy, which struggles with thin character development. (author’s note, map, author Q&A) (Religious fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Jan. 30, 2024
ISBN: 9780593194454
Page Count: 384
Publisher: WaterBrook
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
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by Marie Lu ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 29, 2011
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes
A gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.
Fifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting—plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers—escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel.
This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroes . (Science fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25675-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
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