Young (and old) readers looking for a fast-paced and unique fantasy adventure will be pleasantly surprised.
Boden’s middle-grade fantasy novel follows an 11-year-old English orphan who is taken to another dimension and forced to act in a play by cruel overlords.
Simon Favor hasn’t exactly lived an idyllic life. After his parents died a day apart in freak accidents six years earlier—one was killed by a falling piano and the other was flattened by a bulldozer—Simon’s foster parents sent him away to a private academy called Grynnless Middle. The school is surrounded by rusty razor wire and blanketed in a creepy fog, and Simon immediately knows he is in trouble. Miss Murkwater, the headmistress (who is obsessed with doling out unwarranted disciplinary measures) and Warden, a large, bullying roommate, make Simon’s first days a nightmare. The only saving grace is Pepper Benoit, a pretty girl who shows an interest in Simon and persuades him to join the school’s theater troupe, which is named Spindlecrook. Benoit turns out to be a collector—a talent scout of sorts. She is a mythical creature from another dimension who, with help, can cross the veil between worlds to find and abduct humans to act in her boss’s twisted theater productions. (Humans make the best actors because of their short lifespans.) Simon finds himself imprisoned (literally caged) in a strange, pseudo-medieval fantasy world replete with satyrs, shapeshifters, and dragons. Forced to act in a monster’s play with other kidnapped humans, the 11-year-old desperately searches for a way home.
Boden’s narrative is, tonally, very much comparable to the first Harry Potter novel, even putting aside the fact that both works feature 11-year-old orphans living in England who attend decidedly strange schools. Although there are dark plot threads that contain minor violence and evil machinations, the overall vibe of the story is fun and adventurous, with a glorious sense of wonder that underlies Simon’s quest to escape and return home. The fantastical supporting characters (including Pepper, a beautiful half-human/half-water creature, and Mungo, a scary but courageous cretin who is essentially a walking mountain) exemplify the childlike, awe-inspiring tone. Even the otherworldly crowd watching the theatrical performance reflects that wonder: “Simon stared curiously at the gawking spectators, some of them with luminescent pearly pink skin and huge glossy black eyes, and others with slender necks banded with multi-colored beads and crimson skin scaled like a fish. Still others appeared to be almost human-like, but they crawled and hopped across the ground on all fours and screeched like monkeys.” A streak of light-hearted humor permeates the entire story: “I… never dreamed that I would be in a strange town in another world, living in a birdcage and performing theater for an evil tyrant with a wolfman as a bodyguard.” The principal (minor) flaw is the lack of thematic weight. The author could have more deeply explored Simon’s quest to find (and define) home, his struggle to find his place in the world, and the themes of friendship and self-empowerment. Boden will, one hopes, further develop these elements in future installments. Young (and old) readers looking for a fast-paced and unique fantasy adventure will be pleasantly surprised.Pub Date: May 27, 2011
ISBN: 9781458025494
Page Count: 172
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 6, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A pleasing premise for book lovers.
A fantasy-loving bookworm makes a wonderful, terrible bargain.
When sixth grader Poppy Woodlock’s historic preservationist parents move the family to the Oregon coast to work on the titular stately home, Poppy’s sure she’ll find magic. Indeed, the exiled water nymph in the manor’s ruined swimming pool grants a wish, but: “Magic isn’t free. It cosssts.” The price? Poppy’s favorite book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In return she receives Sampson, a winged lion cub who is everything Poppy could have hoped for. But she soon learns that the nymph didn’t take just her own physical book—she erased Narnia from Poppy’s world. And it’s just the first loss: Soon, Poppy’s grandmother’s journal’s gone, then The Odyssey, and more. The loss is heartbreaking, but Sampson’s a wonderful companion, particularly as Poppy’s finding middle school a tough adjustment. Hartman’s premise is beguiling—plenty of readers will identify with Poppy, both as a fellow bibliophile and as a kid struggling to adapt. Poppy’s repeatedly expressed faith that unveiling Sampson will bring some sort of vindication wears thin, but that does not detract from the central drama. It’s a pity that the named real-world books Poppy reads are notably lacking in diversity; a story about the power of literature so limited in imagination lets both itself and readers down. Main characters are cued White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast. Chapters open with atmospheric spot art. (This review has been updated to reflect the final illustrations.)
A pleasing premise for book lovers. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780316448222
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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