A compelling if derivative supernatural teen romance.
In a young-adult paranormal romance, four teenagers develop strange powers—and the reason why is more incredible than they could possibly imagine.
This debut from sisters Gerry and Hall begins with Maggie Brooks and Lily Ivers, best friends since they were babies. Lily is popular and outgoing, but a high school romance gone seriously awry has turned Maggie into a cynical loner. The arrival of Kyle Spencer changes things: When Kyle and Maggie first lock eyes, they feel their worlds turn upside down. For Maggie, it isn’t a pleasant feeling. On top of her conflicted feelings for Kyle, she starts to read and even manipulate people’s thoughts. Kyle, for his part, develops superhuman strength. Lily at first resigns herself to being a good sidekick, mediating between her two hot-headed friends and acting happy with her normal-as-apple-pie boyfriend, Mark Weston. But when a band of werewolves attacks the girls one winter night, Lily’s powers of magical healing emerge. Then Carter Drake shows up in town. He’s a ne’er-do-well East Coast preppie who, after having been thrown out by his family, feels drawn to Idaho Falls, of all places. He quickly realizes what drew him there—Lily—but their romance is complicated by Kyle’s irrational hatred. Fighting with Kyle, however, brings out Carter’s secret power: an armor of light. Up to this point, the book is a standard if well-plotted story of high school angst with supernatural trappings; yet the final quarter veers in another direction altogether, as the foursome are beset by enemies from another world who reveal that the kids are each reborn participants in an as-yet-unclear dynastic feud. Twilight, it seems, has suddenly gone Game of Thrones. There are deaths, rebirths and betrayal. By the end, three of our heroes are on the road with Mark, fleeing an apocalyptic high school explosion the likes of which have not been seen since the 1999 Sunnydale High graduation in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The authors’ depiction of joy and cruelty in high school rings true, and the hints of a darker reality will leave readers with the best kind of cliff-hanger.
A compelling if derivative supernatural teen romance.Pub Date: Jan. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615589497
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Scribes of Shardwell, LLC
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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