Proving that you can’t have your blood and drink it too, this shallow vampire tale waffles between vamp/camp and purported somberness. Eighth-grader Vladimir has a secret: He is (he thinks) the only living vampire. Pandering Aunt Nelly, a nurse, goes to “great lengths to sneak blood from the hospital” for Vlad’s vital nutrition. His parents were mysteriously murdered, and now his teacher’s missing. The odd substitute suspiciously demands research on vampires. Who’s stalking Vlad, and why? It’s unclear which hints are real clues and which are sloppy narration. Cheesily referential names (town of Bathory; classmate Edgar Poe) and gleeful gross-outs (cookies dunked in blood) undermine the supposed gravity of Vlad’s situation and lineage. Brewer evades the problematic nature of blood-sucking, hiding behind quips like Vlad’s refusal to kill because “just think of the looks he might get at the next block party if he got caught. This one just tries too hard. (Fantasy. 10-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-525-47811-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2007
The worldbuilding of countless eco-thrillers serves here as the setting for a classic Western. A Western, that is, with plankton instead of cows, harpoons instead of six-shooters and submarines instead of covered wagons. Ty lives below the ocean, in a future in which water levels have risen and Topsiders live cramped together in unbearable conditions. Undersea, any brave settler can stake a claim and build a huge homestead. Ty was born down here, and he loves it. When he encounters freckle-faced Topsider orphan Gemma, he revels in showing her his world, from inflatable houses shaped like jellyfish to beautiful schools of swordfish. If only they weren’t in danger from the villainous Seablite gang that keeps attacking homesteads! This caper features a slew of Western standards—the crabby old doctor (“Doc”), the saloon filled with bandanna-clad thugs, the posse of furious citizens—and a few plot twists keep the tension high. A thrilling conversion of the classics to one of our newer frontiers. (Science fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-17814-3
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2010
Life in the seaside village has been hard for Adrianne and her family, even before the arrival of the mermaid. Since Papa’s death, they’ve been living with horrible Auntie Minnah, the village boys ignore Adrianne in favor of wealthier and prettier girls and the villagers despise the whole family. Adrianne gets the opportunity for her dream job, but as soon as things start looking up, the Windwaithe Mermaid comes, summoning Adrianne and terrifying the superstitious villagers. Now Adrianne needs to make a choice between a magical life of undersea romance and the poverty and degradation she knows on land. It ought to be an easy choice, but perhaps not. Lucky, lucky Adrianne. Her magical adventure will bring out her true potential—as a girl who is “quite attractive” and whose outer beauty is now visible both to herself and to the handsome boys of the island. Readers obsessed with paranormal romance could do worse, but they probably won’t remember this for very long. (Fantasy. 10-12)
Pub Date: July 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-09734-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2010
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