This engaging, anything-goes SF/fantasy should hold young attention spans, with more installments promised.
In this middle-grade SF/fantasy, a present-day boy with prophetic dreams and a mind attuned to time is the only hope for 31st-century Earth after an alien takeover.
Jonathan Davis, 11, is largely solitary at school, haunted by strange, lucid dreams and thoughts about the vast universe. Nat’s illustrated series opener then takes flight into two different timelines. Three months ago, Jonathan and his only real junior high friend, Ethan, explored an abandoned church, the long-rumored site of a spooky, paranormal phenomenon. Indeed, there the two found a “portal” that took them to a place in a wholly different space/time zone, where Jonathan confronted and battled fearsome creatures from mythology. Those episodes alternate with the present, in which Jonathan, merely trying to enjoy a night of backyard telescope viewing, gets pulled into the year 3003. Sibling “star kids from the sky,” the namesakes and equivalents of Greek gods Apollo and Artemis, appear and explain to Jonathan that future Earth has been secretly invaded and overwhelmed by the evil Taygateans, mind-controlling extraterrestrials who want to use enslaved humans to help terraform a new world for them to colonize. Jonathan is the “chosen one” to save humankind because he alone can master the intricacies of a sort of universal clock called Hora Prima. All he has to do is rearrange chronological events so that the Taygateans never arrive on Earth. Easier said than done? Well, yes and no, because readers are often told that Jonathan is destined to succeed, no matter the odds. Weird technologies and wild creatures—some associated with different world cultures, others wholly original—show up along the way in an anything-can-happen fashion that is (partially) explained by “string theory.” (Hmmm, was that addressed in a Stephen Hawking or Carl Sagan lecture?) But how the church portal dovetails with the alien stuff is a nice touch. Cool illustrations by Peres are a major asset, and young readers who don’t require practical ground rules for such way-out material should eagerly follow along. The author includes a glossary that features both “real” (scientifically grounded) and imaginary details.
This engaging, anything-goes SF/fantasy should hold young attention spans, with more installments promised. (glossary, author bio, afterword)Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73544-881-7
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Nightsky Publishers
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride.
Zipping back and forth in time atop outsized robo–bell bottoms, mad inventor Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) legs his way to center stage in this slightly less-labored continuation of episode 9.
The action commences after a rambling recap and a warning not to laugh or smile on pain of being forced to read Sarah Plain and Tall. Pilkey first sends his peevish protagonist back a short while to save the Earth (destroyed in the previous episode), then on to various prehistoric eras in pursuit of George, Harold and the Captain. It’s all pretty much an excuse for many butt jokes, dashes of off-color humor (“Tippy pressed the button on his Freezy-Beam 4000, causing it to rise from the depths of his Robo-Pants”), a lengthy wordless comic and two tussles in “Flip-o-rama.” Still, the chase kicks off an ice age, the extinction of the dinosaurs and the Big Bang (here the Big “Ka-Bloosh!”). It ends with a harrowing glimpse of what George and Harold would become if they decided to go straight. The author also chucks in a poopy-doo-doo song with musical notation (credited to Albert P. Einstein) and plenty of ink-and-wash cartoon illustrations to crank up the ongoing frenzy.
Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-17536-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2013
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship.
A young tennis champion becomes the target of revenge.
In this sequel to Legacy and the Queen (2019), Legacy Petrin and her friends Javi and Pippa have returned to Legacy’s home province and the orphanage run by her father. With her friends’ help, she is in training to defend her championship when they discover that another player, operating under the protection of High Consul Silla, is presenting herself as Legacy. She is so convincing that the real Legacy is accused of being an imitation. False Legacy has become a hero to the masses, further strengthening Silla’s hold, and it becomes imperative to uncover and defeat her. If Legacy is to win again, she must play her imposter while disguised as someone else. Winning at tennis is not just about money and fame, but resisting Silla’s plans to send more young people into brutal mines with little hope of better lives. Legacy will have to overcome her fears and find the magic that allowed her to claim victory in the past. This story, with its elements of sports, fantasy, and social consciousness that highlight tensions between the powerful and those they prey upon, successfully continues the series conceived by late basketball superstar Bryant. As before, the tennis matches are depicted with pace and spirit. Legacy and Javi have brown skin; most other characters default to White.
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-949520-19-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Granity Studios
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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