by Eric Smith ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 8, 2018
An unusual work of magical realism. (Fiction. 12-16)
An adopted teen hears voices on the wind that beckon her to an abandoned grove in a nearby park where she learns unimaginable secrets about her origins.
Leila, a brown-skinned high schooler with thick, curly hair and seasonal affective disorder, has an unusual connection to nature. She doesn’t know who her birth parents are or where they were from, but after years in a group home and foster homes around Philadelphia, she has found a permanent family with Jon, whose race is not mentioned, and Lisabeth, who is cued as black. Leila struggles to open herself up to her new parents. Sarika, a South Asian–American girl she befriended in the group home, is the only one who knows that Leila hears voices, which she fights to suppress. Through her passion for the environment, Leila meets a cute park ranger who helps her find the grove of trees that becomes the most important environmental cause she’s ever had to fight for. Readers will feel for Leila; her emotions around her family history are raw and real. The secondary characters are less convincing, and the fantastical aspect of Leila’s connection to nature may leave some readers confused about seasonal affective disorder.
An unusual work of magical realism. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: May 8, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-63583-018-7
Page Count: 372
Publisher: Flux
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
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by Christopher Paolini ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 23, 2005
Eragon continues his Rider training in this dense sequel. After the epic battle at Farthen Dûr, Eragon travels to the elven city Ellesméra to complete his magical education. There he learns from Oromis and Glaedr, a wounded Rider and his dragon who have been hidden for years, ever since Galbatorix overthrew the old order and slew the Riders. Meanwhile, inhuman servants of Galbatorix have invaded Eragon’s home village Carvahall, hoping to capture Eragon’s cousin Roran. Roran leads the villagers to join the Varden rebellion against Galbatorix’s tyranny. Another epic battle concludes the story and brings the cousins together just in time for a revelation of dark secrets. Suffused with purple prose and faux-archaic language, this patchwork of dialogue, characters and concepts pulled whole cloth from the fantasy canon holds together remarkably well. Dramatic tension is maintained through the interweaving of Eragon’s and Roran’s adventures, though too much time is spent on the details of Eragon’s training. Derivative but exciting. (Fantasy. 12-15)
Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-375-82670-X
Page Count: 704
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2005
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by Christopher Paolini ; illustrated by Sidharth Chaturvedi
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SEEN & HEARD
by Kevin Crossley-Holland ; illustrated by Chris Riddell ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 11, 2023
Visually stunning but there are many better—because they are less rigidly traditional—versions around.
A stately rendition of the Arthurian legend, garbed in sumptuous dress.
With much use of rich golden tones and his customary fanatical attention to detail, Riddell fills every available space, from page corners to broad pictorial borders and wordless full spreads, with grave knights in extravagant full armor, slender damsels and crones in flowing silks, luxuriant castles and chambers, and frighteningly bestial giants and other monsters. Crossley-Holland’s retelling of the Matter of Britain is less impressive, though he does cover the main Christian-inflected storyline (with a few additions, such as the tale of Gawain and the Green Knight). By adding care for the Earth as a knightly task, he introduces a contemporary note. But the women are still malign witches, flighty incompetents, or temptresses—and along with having Sir Lancelot mansplain early on that “women are the same as us, but different” (“Strange creatures,” says Sir Tristram. “Their feelings are so strong,” whines Sir Geraint), the author doubles down later by mystically declaring that the Holy Grail is actually Mary, at once male and female. But if the sex all takes place behind euphemisms or closed doors, at least, there is much rousingly explicit gore in narrative and visuals, and both Arthur and the annoyingly all-knowing Merlin wind up as properly available for return comings. Some of the Round Table knights, such as Sir Lamorak, are depicted with brown skin.
Visually stunning but there are many better—because they are less rigidly traditional—versions around. (Illustrated fantasy. 12-15)Pub Date: April 11, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1265-5
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Candlewick Studio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
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