A notable new series for teens and adventure lovers.
Follow the adventures of two teens as they are inducted into a magical society and fight against a dark force.
Our heroes are two teens—shy, older sister, Maya, and her cocky, impulsive brother, Thomas. After their father dies mysteriously and their mother falls gravely ill, the family stays in Paris with a mysterious benefactor named Uncle D., who reveals that he had a special relationship with the teen’s father and offers to teach them an ancient magical art known as the Arakad. Soon after the training begins, Arakad masters across the world are discovered violently murdered. A rival gang called the Thaalung Clan has harnessed the power of the Arakad for evil purposes. Uncle D. must train his new students while fending off the forces of the Thaalung. An epic battle ensues that will crisscross Europe and involve a mysteriously addictive energy drink. The success or failure of this sort of story, particularly in the minds of young readers, depends almost entirely on how interesting the magic is. The best novels create detailed and even plausible descriptions of magical powers. Look at the way Harry Potter treated wizardry for a high-water mark. While not quite up to that standard, the Arakad is an interesting and entertaining mix of religion, mythology and sorcery. This book is the first in what is likely a multivolume series, and the groundwork has been laid for a satisfyingly epic story. In this first volume, as many questions are raised as answered. Wolf does have a weakness for New Age-inflected platitudes that even young readers will find cheesy, but these do little to detract from the momentum of the plot. Wolf has also taken the step of enhancing the book with online content that helps broaden the universe of the Arakad and further invest readers in the characters. If this standard of ambition and skill continues, the Arakad novels could make for a stellar new YA series.
A notable new series for teens and adventure lovers.Pub Date: April 20, 2012
ISBN: 978-1470169022
Page Count: 260
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
Wrought with admirable skill—the emptiness and menace underlying this Utopia emerge step by inexorable step: a richly...
In a radical departure from her realistic fiction and comic chronicles of Anastasia, Lowry creates a chilling, tightly controlled future society where all controversy, pain, and choice have been expunged, each childhood year has its privileges and responsibilities, and family members are selected for compatibility.
As Jonas approaches the "Ceremony of Twelve," he wonders what his adult "Assignment" will be. Father, a "Nurturer," cares for "newchildren"; Mother works in the "Department of Justice"; but Jonas's admitted talents suggest no particular calling. In the event, he is named "Receiver," to replace an Elder with a unique function: holding the community's memories—painful, troubling, or prone to lead (like love) to disorder; the Elder ("The Giver") now begins to transfer these memories to Jonas. The process is deeply disturbing; for the first time, Jonas learns about ordinary things like color, the sun, snow, and mountains, as well as love, war, and death: the ceremony known as "release" is revealed to be murder. Horrified, Jonas plots escape to "Elsewhere," a step he believes will return the memories to all the people, but his timing is upset by a decision to release a newchild he has come to love. Ill-equipped, Jonas sets out with the baby on a desperate journey whose enigmatic conclusion resonates with allegory: Jonas may be a Christ figure, but the contrasts here with Christian symbols are also intriguing.
Wrought with admirable skill—the emptiness and menace underlying this Utopia emerge step by inexorable step: a richly provocative novel. (Fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: April 1, 1993
ISBN: 978-0-395-64566-6
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1993
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