Rodda’s usually absorbing series about a humble animal tender who repeatedly saves his isolated people loses some steam in this new episode. When a preternaturally savage winter forces the folk of Rin out of their homes, Rowan stays behind—impelled by both a vague rhymed prophesy and by the sudden advent of huge, toothy snow worms dubbed “ice creepers” to follow his beloved, ox-like bukshah up into the looming mountains. Accompanied by three friends met in previous adventures, he survives numerous hazards, including attacks from ice creepers (who die instantly at the touch of fire), leech-like creatures (who die at the merest touch of water from a conveniently placed spring), two wonderfully well-timed landslides, and a miraculously harmless slosh through a river of molten gold. Ultimately, he discovers that the bukshah play an important role in fighting the ice creepers, and learns more about his people’s troubled past too. Like her countryman Garth Nix, Rodda creates genuinely creepy creatures—but here she’s lost the knack for making them credible threats, or of moving her heroic characters along without contrived help from powers unknown. Disappointing. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-06-029780-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2003
Rare glimmers of wit aside, this tale has nothing to offer but trite dialogue, typecast characters, a plot built from lackluster set pieces and a bewildering array of odd names. After 76 pages of scene-setting, the adventure finally begins with the story of battered old chipmunk Birch Tentintrotter, a brilliant linguist who, years ago, was ruined and nearly killed by mysterious enemies after translating an ancient want ad from a supposedly-mythical Cat civilization. Inspired by new clues, Birch, joined by watchmaker Hermuk Tantamoq and adventuress/pilot Linka Perflinger (both mice), race nefarious con artist Hinkum Stepfitchler III and his intended victim, cosmetics queen Tucka Mertslin, to a lost library of the Cats, where, after predictable treachery, captures and escapes, everyone ends up about where you’d expect. Many members of this all-rodent cast appeared in a much-referred-to prequel; no doubt the series will continue until the author’s will (or money) gives out. Since it’s printed in a nearly illegible typeface, though, few readers will stay the course long enough to experience its many other faults. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-9675111-2-7
Page Count: 300
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
A novelist for adults tries for a younger audience with a condescending, thinly disguised pastiche of classic and recent fantasies. Two children, doughty Abby and Spike, an amnesiac foundling who (of course) turns out to be a prince, help rescue their captive parents, plus a group of kidnapped children who are being forced to mind magic Dust (“Snow Dust”) from a subterranean Antarctic land. Along the way, the pair meet Captain Starlight, the Ancient Mariner himself, with his oversized albatross companion Benbow, an irascible librarian with a staff of elves, monsters, and ancient machines that respond only to the good of heart, and a positive array of witches. There’s bluff Sea Witches; pompous but well-meaning Light Witches; and fetid, bat-cloaked Night Witches plotting to exterminate their rivals with a mixture of Fairy—er, Snow Dust and toxic sludge. The author leaves no doubt about whom to hiss and whom to root for as, along the way, the good guys Save A Whale and participate in a performance of Peter Pan in which a traitor is unmasked by his refusal to clap for Tinker Bell. Attempts to inject wonder, surprise, and humor into the tale fall as flat as the climactic battle, in which the chief bad guy stands by wringing his hands as Abby heals an immense serpent with Kindness, then vanishes (sequels, anyone?), leaving his evil cohorts to blow up at the least whiff of Snow Dust. Wyatt supplies pen-and-ink sprays of twinkling stars, and Jules Verne–like spot illustrations, some of which recur. There’s not much here for fans of J.M. Barrie, Joan Aiken, Pullman’s His Dark Materials, and the like beyond a sense of déjà vu. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-439-29659-5
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Chicken House/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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