A legendary tale for a legendary figure.
Before becoming the legendary Chinese warrior, Mulan had to face her own demons.
A prophecy tells of a young girl who will grow up to save the emperor. Motivated by past grievances, the White Fox demon, Daji, strives to stop the prophecy by injecting that girl—Xiu—and her healer with a powerful poison. Desperate to save Xiu (though ignorant of her sister’s portended role in the future), Xiu’s sister, Mulan, aids the injured healer—who’s revealed to be Jade Rabbit, an immortal with powers of his own. The Rabbit tells Mulan that they must travel to the garden of the Queen Mother of the Immortals to retrieve a rare plant needed for the cure—by the night of the new moon, before the poison reaches the victims’ vitals. Mulan and the Rabbit ride off to their uncertain future on Mulan’s horse, Black Wind, with a mix of dread and hope. As the Rabbit and his powers grow weaker by the hour, Mulan constantly battles her insecurities regarding her own identity and abilities vis-à-vis her expected traditional role in society. Daji also pays her visits, laying temptations and traps with the help of Red Fox, her accomplice. As usual, Lin artfully develops captivating characters with rich histories. Traditional tales are interspersed throughout the tightly written narrative to gradually reveal a complex web of legends and adventure that seamlessly blend together into one alluring saga. (A partial bibliography of Chinese tales and traditions is appended.)
A legendary tale for a legendary figure. (afterword) (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-368-02033-6
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Disney Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A perilous, high-action plot—with a cliffhanger.
Four kids rush to rescue their families from the clutches of a tyrannical government in an alternate dimension.
In series opener The Strangers (2019), siblings Finn, Emma, and Chess escaped the parallel world into which their mother disappeared, but they still failed to reunite their family. During their desperate flight from danger, the Greystone siblings’ friend Natalie Mayhew lost her mother there, too. Their only path between worlds, a lever stuck to the wall of the Greystones’ basement, broke. Now all four kids must work together to reopen the tunnel to a dangerous dystopia and decipher the secret code that Kate Greystone left for her children to solve. This sequel never slows in pace, thrusting the characters into new, treacherous mysteries. In this sequel, Haddix explores themes of honesty and love as the children compare their experiences to those in the alternate universe. Natalie struggles with her relationship with her parents, who are divorced in one world and married in the other. The third-person perspective shifts chapter by chapter among the characters; the Greystone kids present white, and Natalie is biracial, with a Mexican mom and white dad. At times, the setting is logistically disorienting, such as the maze of secret passages and the multilevel glass-roofed event space somehow hidden behind a curtain in the basement of Natalie’s house in the alternate world.
A perilous, high-action plot—with a cliffhanger. (Science fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-283840-7
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
A weak plot, underdeveloped characters, and the hint of a next book sum up this not-so-deep series opener.
Four pop-culture–steeped middle schoolers discover a portal to…something off the Washington coast.
When Nico falls over a cliff into Still Cove, he surfaces in a cave that leads to an ancient houseboat. After his friends Tyler, Emma, and Opal come to rescue him, they investigate the elaborately furnished, abandoned boat and discover a spiral staircase down to a shadowy, whirling water portal the kids call the Darkdeep. When Emma experimentally touches the water, she is swallowed up, only to be regurgitated minutes later. This strange process releases familiar apparitions, or figments, seemingly plucked from their childhood memories, that all four kids can see. The foursome can’t seem to stop jumping through the Darkdeep to see what apparitions they can conjure up, including Smurfs, Godzilla, Minions, an extraterrestrial Visitor, and various other imaginary creatures. Inevitably, these beings take on more solid form, become violent, and, for an unknown reason, leave Still Cove and head for town. These shenanigans play out against a backdrop of the town’s economic distress after timber-industry layoffs; subplots include Opal’s needy desire for male attention, the enduring enmity of the school bully, and the upcoming radish festival. Too many storylines dilute any sense of intrigue. Characters are identified by salient features—Tyler’s dark skin, Opal’s long, black hair, Emma’s blue eyes—a device that does not disrupt the white default.
A weak plot, underdeveloped characters, and the hint of a next book sum up this not-so-deep series opener. (Paranormal suspense. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0046-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
