Grave and solemn fantasy for readers attracted by the severe.
A girl sets out across the ice fields to rescue her mother from dragons.
Princess Anatolia’s only 12, so she figures there’s a long time left before she’ll rule the Queendom of Gall—but then dragons take her mother, Queen Una. Toli’s still traumatized from her father’s death by dragon a year ago, which she secretly, agonizingly, deems her own fault. But her mother may yet be alive, and Toli can’t see anything beyond rescuing her. In this two-mooned world of “ice upon ice, wind following wind,” dangers include giant predatory beetles that live under the ice. The dragons are brightly colored and verbal but harsh and enigmatic. Even if Toli—unwillingly accompanied by her little sister and her friend, who stow away in her sled to accompany her, and a baby dragon thrust into her care by cold coincidence—can reach the queen, the dragons may kill them all anyway. Byrne’s sober prose constructs a stern, urgent setting—Gall appears to have the world’s only human population, and it’s so isolated by temperature that it almost feels claustrophobic—eased with rare bits of warmth and humor. Some key elements of the physical geography are unclear, however. Gall is an explicitly multiracial culture; Toli and her family are white, her best friend’s brown. Disfigurement and chronic pain are, unfortunately, associated with moral ruin.
Grave and solemn fantasy for readers attracted by the severe. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-19555-5
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Imprint
Review Posted Online: May 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
Atmospheric but at times frustratingly flat.
A recent transplant wrestles with her seaside town’s complicated and ghostly history.
Twelve-year-old Mallory Denton has moved from Chicago to a tiny New England town. Eastport, Massachusetts, is a popular tourist destination, relying on its long and spooky history to keep its economy thriving. Its attractions include Mallory’s parents’ creepily themed restaurant that abuts a cemetery. Sweet Molly’s is Eastport’s most famous story, commemorated as the chief attraction in an annual parade. The legend tells of the time Molly Flanders McMulligan Marshall lost her twin brother, Liam, at sea when the townspeople pressured him to go out in his fishing boat even as a dangerous storm approached. After Mallory begins to see Molly in visions and nightmares, she must find a way to break Molly’s curse on the town before the vengeful ghost can exact her furious otherworldly revenge on the town that monetizes and celebrates her trauma. In tense, fast-paced chapters, Currie concocts a chilling setting replete with haunting spectral scares set in a town with an accessible but intriguingly complicated history. However, the thrills ultimately fizzle, as much is told rather than shown and pivotal plot points are revealed too soon and resolved too quickly and tidily. While some scenes are chillingly rendered, they lose their panache when juxtaposed against moments of cloying predictability. Most characters read as White.
Atmospheric but at times frustratingly flat. (Horror. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72823-654-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Sourcebooks Young Readers
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
A strong start to a new series in the ever-popular Warriors world: Legions of fans will purr.
Increased evidence of encroachment by Twolegs and other ominous signs of change roil the five feline Clans of the lake territories in this kickoff of a new story arc.
In intertwined storylines, a distracting voice in a young apprentice’s head takes on increasingly scary strength, disturbing visions inform an experienced warrior that she’s been chosen by the spirit guides of StarClan to play an unwanted role in impending troubles, and a wise but weakening Clan leader faces being voted out of office due to her age. Meanwhile, the enigmatic Twolegs are tearing up a forested area, poisoning an important stream, and possibly threatening all the established territories of the five Clans. Avid series fans will welcome encounters with older versions of Leafstar, Tawnypelt, and other stalwarts whom they met in previous episodes. Detailed maps labeling the terrain in both cat and Twoleg terms appear at the beginning of the book, along with a cast list of truly imposing length, helping any readers who need reminders to keep track of the dozens of relationships and Clan affiliations. Better yet, expertly mixed in among dreams and discussions that crank up the general level of anxiety, the book has enough incidental action and individual wrestling with personal issues to help the main characters stand out from the furry crowd.
A strong start to a new series in the ever-popular Warriors world: Legions of fans will purr. (Animal fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780063357068
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
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