Hagen’s first children’s book, flavored with Norse mythology, is brimful of antic energy and inventive flair, like the best...
Aunt Jaz has always evaded Gabriel’s questions about his father’s disappearance and won’t discuss Uncle Corax (whose unpleasant, bird-of-prey visage hangs among the family portraits in their Brooklyn mansion); then shortly before Gabriel’s 12th birthday, she gives him his father’s childhood notebook, which reveals the magical bond between humans and ravens.
Simultaneously, Paladin, a raven chick being raised by his mother nearby, learns that Gabriel’s family, like his own, possesses the rare ability to communicate across species and that when a human and raven form a close amicus bond, the two can join together in one body, human or raven. Paladin’s mother explains how riddles—funny ones, especially—which ravens love, protect them from their ancient enemies, valravens, avian ghouls whose inability to appreciate riddles gives them away. The first valraven, Huginn, born a raven like his brother, Muninn, sought immortality from a cursed, magical torc that promised him eternal life if he consumed the flesh of his dead amicus. Now Valravens seek the torc again while Gabriel and Paladin—supported and hindered by a cast of quirky characters, male and female, human and avian—vow to stop them and rescue Gabriel’s father from the underground city of Aviopolis.
Hagen’s first children’s book, flavored with Norse mythology, is brimful of antic energy and inventive flair, like the best middle-grade fantasies; readers, like baby birds, will devour it and clamor for future installments. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-385-37103-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
Readers bewitched by this lively series will enjoy this adventurous sequel.
Intrepid siblings Abby and Jonah continue their adventures through the realm of fairy tales in this comical story (Fairest of All, 2012).
Having recently returned—via magic mirror—from Snow White’s world, 10-year-old Abby is searching for answers. She longs to discover why she and her brother were sent into the fairy tale. However, her investigation quickly goes awry when, instead of receiving an explanation, the duo is suddenly transported through the mirror and into a different tale. Once there, an accident involving Abby, the iconic glass slipper and Cinderella’s foot alters the course of the traditional story. Soon, the siblings are racing against time to restore the fairy tale and return home. Once again Mlynowski cleverly revises a classic fairy tale, offering a fresh interpretation of Cinderella’s story and giving it a modern update. In this version, a feisty fairy godmother challenges Cinderella to rely upon her own ingenuity—not a handsome prince—to remedy her situation, and a formerly mean stepsister becomes quite sympathetic and remorseful. Despite many humorous mishaps and a surprising transformation, the ever-resourceful Abby’s savvy wit and Jonah’s enthusiastic assistance overcome all obstacles.
Readers bewitched by this lively series will enjoy this adventurous sequel. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-41567-5
Page Count: 174
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2012
It stands alone well enough, but it will be best enjoyed by established series fans.
Can't solve your problem in the present? Try time travel, superhero-style!
Fresh from his disastrous collaboration with the insane villain Mad Mask (2012), 12-year-old Kyle Camden, aka Azure Avenger (in his mind) and aka Blue Freak (in the minds of everyone else in Bouring, N.Y.), concocts a new scheme to expose vacuous, probable-alien Mighty Mike as less than the good guy he pretends to be. Kyle uses his superintelligence (obtained from an encounter with space plasma) to create a time machine so he can videotape Mike emerging from the plasma, thus proving to the world he's not human. Things go wrong in the present (zombies!) and the past (Kyle ends up in 1987 instead of a couple months ago). His chronovessel fried, Kyle tries to make the best of the situation, but who knew there was no Internet in 1987?! He finds that some allies can't be trusted and some enemies are more than they appear...and learns a few things about his dad and his grandfather, all on the way to saving the world...AGAIN! Lyga's third fun and furious Archvillain tale is somewhat slower and brainier than the others, but it solves many mysteries and opens up a few more. Characters grow, the technobabble is funny, and the time travel is nicely thought through.
It stands alone well enough, but it will be best enjoyed by established series fans. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-19654-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 23, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2012
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