An entertaining fantasy for readers interested in magic and science.
In this debut middle-grade novel, a tween gets caught in a dangerous situation involving a magical world.
Ever since magic returned with the Big Boom nearly 40 years ago, the continent of Harmonycan has never been the same. Magic is illegal, a government agency called FAHLT executes its users, and the world of anthropomorphic, animal-like biests is strictly separate and hidden from human society. It’s in the settlement of Hope Town that Zyk, a 12-year-old boy with a missing father, yearns to study the nature of magic: “It’s not enough to just read about them in FAHLT dispatches. I want to learn more about magical stuff for real.” During a covert investigation of a feroxcat sighting in the nearby forest, Zyk stumbles across a magical villain called Blight attacking a catlike biest named Pitch. Zyk takes the hit instead and blacks out, only to wake up in Misty Ruse, the biests’ community outside Hope Town. He discovers that he’s been cursed by Blight and can’t leave Misty Ruse. Fortunately, the biests turn out to be a welcoming group of many different kinds of species with varying abilities. Despite his concern for his mother back home, Zyk is excited to learn magic and make new friends while he remains in Misty Ruse. His cousin Eva soon joins him and, together with Pitch, they must not only experience the rites of passage of growing up magical, but also resist Blight’s continued attacks on the community. While much of the novel is simply focused on Zyk struggling to adapt to his new education and lessons about Misty Ruse, it doesn’t feel slow or poorly paced. Instead, readers will discover the wonders of this world alongside him. The occasional illustrations do break the effect, as their highly edited nature and lack of proper lighting make them confusing and off-putting. Still, Growler’s enjoyable fantasy series opener provides the magic school genre with some original twists in its vivid introduction of the biests.
An entertaining fantasy for readers interested in magic and science.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2023
ISBN: 979-8988648604
Page Count: 370
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low.
Recasting Dog Man and his feline ward, Li’l Petey, as costumed superheroes, Pilkey looks East of Eden in this follow-up to Tale of Two Kitties (2017).
The Steinbeck novel’s Cain/Abel motif gets some play here, as Petey, “world’s evilest cat” and cloned Li’l Petey’s original, tries assiduously to tempt his angelic counterpart over to the dark side only to be met, ultimately at least, by Li’l Petey’s “Thou mayest.” (There are also occasional direct quotes from the novel.) But inner struggles between good and evil assume distinctly subordinate roles to riotous outer ones, as Petey repurposes robots built for a movie about the exploits of Dog Man—“the thinking man’s Rin Tin Tin”—while leading a general rush to the studio’s costume department for appropriate good guy/bad guy outfits in preparation for the climactic battle. During said battle and along the way Pilkey tucks in multiple Flip-O-Rama inserts as well as general gags. He lists no fewer than nine ways to ask “who cut the cheese?” and includes both punny chapter titles (“The Bark Knight Rises”) and nods to Hamiltonand Mary Poppins. The cartoon art, neatly and brightly colored by Garibaldi, is both as easy to read as the snappy dialogue and properly endowed with outsized sound effects, figures displaying a range of skin colors, and glimpses of underwear (even on robots).
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low. (drawing instructions) (Graphic fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-93518-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
What a wag.
What do you get from sewing the head of a smart dog onto the body of a tough police officer? A new superhero from the incorrigible creator of Captain Underpants.
Finding a stack of old Dog Mancomics that got them in trouble back in first grade, George and Harold decide to craft a set of new(ish) adventures with (more or less) improved art and spelling. These begin with an origin tale (“A Hero Is Unleashed”), go on to a fiendish attempt to replace the chief of police with a “Robo Chief” and then a temporarily successful scheme to make everyone stupid by erasing all the words from every book (“Book ’Em, Dog Man”), and finish off with a sort of attempted alien invasion evocatively titled “Weenie Wars: The Franks Awaken.” In each, Dog Man squares off against baddies (including superinventor/archnemesis Petey the cat) and saves the day with a clever notion. With occasional pauses for Flip-O-Rama featurettes, the tales are all framed in brightly colored sequential panels with hand-lettered dialogue (“How do you feel, old friend?” “Ruff!”) and narrative. The figures are studiously diverse, with police officers of both genders on view and George, the chief, and several other members of the supporting cast colored in various shades of brown. Pilkey closes as customary with drawing exercises, plus a promise that the canine crusader will be further unleashed in a sequel.
What a wag. (Graphic fantasy. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-58160-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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