On a future Earth, 12-year-old Ellie pilots a fighter pod from an orbiting space station to England. Although she’s determined to reunite with her parents and twin brother Mika, she is recaptured by government agents. How Mika discovers the secrets of their dystopian society and begins to seek a peaceful solution to them propels the exciting, suspenseful plot. In fact, this compulsive read should not be started at bedtime if readers intend to get any sleep. Echoes of Ender’s Game and the Tripod Trilogy lend interest to Clayton’s skillful blending of science-fiction tropes into an original novel. Transportation pods, monstrous cyborg animals, advanced healing techniques and the scientific study of ESP provide the details that make this world work. The book’s climax, although satisfying in itself, does not resolve all readers’ questions or tie up the loose ends that provide an enticing glimpse of possibilities for future volumes. Since it ends with a walloping cliffhanger, here’s hoping a sequel appears in our not-too-distant future. (Science fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-439-92593-8
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Chicken House/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
A page-turner that gives the heroic Stonekeepers plenty of chances to show their stuff and moves the main story along an...
Wraithlike attackers force a mass evacuation and a cryptic prophecy’s meaning begins to clear in this headlong continuation of Kibuishi’s deservedly popular series.
The action picks up in midflight as Navin and companions survive the destruction of their giant robot suits, then help the fleeing survivors of the city of Lucien by fighting a rear-guard action against swarms of diaphanous, cat-eyed, zombie-making Dark Scouts. Meanwhile Emily, Trellis and Vigo reluctantly join traitorous elf Max Griffin in another visit to the Voice’s realm of memories that leads to the death of a major character—along with a rescue, reunions with old friends and a lead-in to the next episode. Though the ongoing plotlines and large cast make familiarity with earlier outings a necessity, this one still features a crowd-pleasing blend of lively dialogue (“And I don’t care what the prophecies say. You’re still a slacker”), easy-to-follow, nonstop action, elves, robots and derring-do amid awesome sound effects (“D-DOOOM SHHAAAAAA,” “SZRAK!”). Most of the cleanly drawn, lushly backgrounded panels focus on faces, with occasional full-spread scenes adding dramatic visual highlights.
A page-turner that gives the heroic Stonekeepers plenty of chances to show their stuff and moves the main story along an inch or two. (Graphic fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-43315-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
The mind behind the redoubtable Captain Underpants teams up with a new illustrator for a new series, featuring a pipsqueak mouse and his humongous metal friend. Enraged when his new robot refuses to destroy nearby Squeakyville, mad doctor Stinky McNasty turns a classroom lizard into a monster with a drop of Hate Potion #9. In the meantime, the robot, having bonded with little Ricky, intimidated the bullies who threw his backpack in the garbage, and taken up residence in his garage, lumbers into battle, saving the day in a flurry of reader-animated “Flip-O-Rama” scenes. In thick-lined cartoons, the hamfisted robot looks like Popeye in sheet metal; the bad guys all have squinty eyes; the fight is all. Children younger than the Captain’s readership may find this droll, but Pilkey’s just treading water; so rudimentary is the plot, so stock the characters, and so free is this of humor, that it may sink like the proverbial lead balloon. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-590-30719-3
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
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