Still, Urey writes a solid adventure, with engaging protagonists, a neat gimmick, and a cliffhanger ending; here’s hoping...
With a background in theater, Urey presents an action-packed tale that keeps its protagonists one step ahead of the criminals who want their high-tech transporters.
Axel and Daisha are more than just friends; they saw their parents murdered and have been on the run from the killer for over a year. Their parents invented the GeoPort, a device that allows them to instantly travel anywhere in the world, as long as they know the latitude and longitude. This discovery will revolutionize society, and whoever owns the technology can own the future. Pursued from one place to the next by evil henchmen, Axel and Daisha have to rely on their intelligence and each other to stay one step ahead while searching for a solution. While it’s refreshing to see two characters from diverse backgrounds (she’s black, with Jamaican and Kenyan heritage, while he’s white) interacting with respect and affection for each other, it would have been more interesting if they had more diversity in their characters. Likewise, it is unfortunate that the villain goes by the nickname Dr. Stain, due to a facial birthmark. Dialogue is too often clunky and expository, including a cringe-inducingly painful scene in which Lucy calmly explains her dreadlocks to an ignorant white boy who says her hair looks unwashed.
Still, Urey writes a solid adventure, with engaging protagonists, a neat gimmick, and a cliffhanger ending; here’s hoping the sequel irons out the bumps . (Science fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8075-6684-8
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
An original, clever, page-turning adventure.
During the Blitz, 12-year-old Londoner Kat, along with two younger siblings and an American boy, is sent to a distant relative’s Scottish castle, where they confront evils both old and contemporary.
Though Lady Eleanor claims to be starting an academy in her castle and has hired faculty to attend to the curriculum, it’s soon clear that none are what they claim to be. The old castle keep is burned out, and the newer part seems to have weird twists and turns, secret doors and strange goings-on, including several ghostly children. Clues multiply early on that Eleanor is the same woman for whom the creepy, unnamed village magister has replaced living parts one by one over decades, each given in payment for a charm for a child’s soul. Kat’s father—now away working for MI6—is a watchmaker, and Kat has his gift for numbers, gears, and puzzles. Witchy magic, Nazi menace, and clockwork all come into play, along with an Enigma machine and spies for both the Allies and the Nazis seeking occult sources of power or protection. After the breathtaking climax, various threads of the story are tied up in a drawing-room denouement in which the characters decide to dispose of toxic magical artifacts rather carelessly—though in a way that invites anticipation (and fortuitously leaves room for sequels).
An original, clever, page-turning adventure. (Historical fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: March 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-451-47633-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
This can’t be the last we ever hear of the Legendary Alston Boys of the purely surreal Logan County—imaginative,...
Can this really be the first time readers meet the Legendary Alston Boys of Logan County? Cousins and veteran sleuths Otto and Sheed Alston show us that we are the ones who are late to their greatness.
These two black boys are coming to terms with the end of their brave, heroic summer at Grandma’s, with a return to school just right around the corner. They’ve already got two keys to the city, but the rival Epic Ellisons—twin sisters Wiki and Leen—are steadily gaining celebrity across Logan County, Virginia, and have in hand their third key to the city. No way summer can end like this! These young people are powerful, courageous, experienced adventurers molded through their heroic commitment to discipline and deduction. They’ve got their shared, lifesaving maneuvers committed to memory (printed in a helpful appendix) and ready to save any day. Save the day they must, as a mysterious, bendy gentleman and an oversized, clingy platypus have been unleashed on the city of Fry, and all the residents and their belongings seem to be frozen in time and place. Will they be able to solve this one? With total mastery, Giles creates in Logan County an exuberant vortex of weirdness, where the commonplace sits cheek by jowl with the utterly fantastic, and populates it with memorable characters who more than live up to their setting.
This can’t be the last we ever hear of the Legendary Alston Boys of the purely surreal Logan County—imaginative, thrill-seeking readers, this is a series to look out for. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-46083-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Versify/HMH
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
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