The four phobia-afflicted friends who bonded in the Marx Brothers–style School of Fear (2009) face a worse threat than backsliding (though there’s plenty of that too) in this equally manic sequel. With solid mutual bonds generally hidden beneath layers of sharp repartee—“I think you need help...and I don’t mean that in a kind or caring way”—Lulu, Madeleine, Theo and Garrison reunite for a second summer at the isolated Massachusetts institution run by wacky ex– (except in her own mind) beauty queen Mrs. Wellington and her long-suffering octogenarian cook/caretaker Schmidty. Joined by an aggressive new student, Hyacinth, whose lack of social skills is only matched by her hysterical fear of being alone, the crew first looks into a series of house burglaries, then learns that a reporter is planning to publish an exposé that will certainly force the school to close. Staving off this catastrophe turns into a continuing plot that will run into at least one further episode. Making sense of the setting, wild antics and over-the-top characters requires reading the opener, but Daneshvari expertly keeps the humor fresh and the pacing frenetic. (Farce. 11-13)
Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-316-03328-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A talky ending leaves a forgiveable blemish on this semisatirical debut tale of a young foundling learning to harness a real superpower while setting out to uncover his obscure past. Years of poring over a stash of tattered comics left at the door of his New Jersey orphanage at least partially ease Jack’s adjustment when he’s suddenly attacked by a heavily armed warrior robot and then hustled off to the Imagine Nation—a floating island entirely populated by superheroes and reachable only by Those Who Believe. Though the Nation is rapidly turning into a police state thanks to a (pointedly familiar) climate of media-fostered fear in the wake of an attempted invasion by the alien race of robo-zombie Rüstov, Jack does gather enough support both to survive the public revelation that his own bloodstream is crawling with Rüstov nanobots and, thanks to his burgeoning ability to understand and make friends with machines, to steel himself for a second battle with the aforementioned metal warrior. Though Myklusch prefers diatribes and explanations to exploring the ins and outs of this comic-book world, he creates a beguiling, sequel-worthy scenario. (Fantasy. 11-13)
Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4169-9561-6
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2010
Stewart and Riddell cap their Edge Chronicles with a large-scale grand tour and cast reunion. Several generations after the events in Freeglader (2004), young orphan Nate Quarter is forced to flee for his life from a murderous mine supervisor—which becomes more or less a theme as, acquiring such doughty companions as the mine owner’s intrepid daughter Eudoxia and Librarian Knight Zelphyius Dax along the way, he comes and goes from Great Glade and several other cities or settlements that have grown up in the vast Deep Woods that border the overhanging Edge of the world. The long journey takes him through multiple battles, chases, rescues and political upheavals to mystical encounters with figures from the past in the ever-dark Night Woods and then on to a climax in the restored airborne city of Sanctaphrax. A huge cast teeming with multiple races of uneasily coexistent goblins, trolls and more, plus Dementor-ish gloamglozers and other deadly predators are all depicted in lovingly minute (and occasionally gruesome) detail in Riddell’s many pen-and-ink portraits and add plenty of color to this vigorous sendoff. (Fantasy. 11-13)
Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-375-83743-2
Page Count: 688
Publisher: David Fickling/Random
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
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