An appealing heroine, zippy prose and a preposterous plot make entertainment for young teens. Jade, nearly 14 and a bit on the chunky side, finally experiences her first period—but also discovers that she’s part mermaid when she gets too comfy in her bath. Dad knew that Jade’s mom was a mermaid, and no one understands how Mom could have drowned last year—until Jade discovers that she is being held hostage by an evil mer-couple in the local lake. Boudreau’s characterizations ring nicely true, as Jade juggles her fight to free her mom with her own friendships and the unlikely interest of a popular, handsome boy. A nice sprinkling of wry humor keeps spirits up, but even for a fantasy, the plot conjures the term “eye rolling.” A good fantasy makes readers believe; this one has enough dei ex machinae to populate Mount Olympus. However, the author keeps suspense high and her prose moving while tapping straight into young teens’ angst about friends, enemies and boys. A talented writer aims too low but nevertheless produces light fun. (Fantasy. 10-14)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4022-4412-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Like many crossover efforts from name-brand authors: overstuffed and underinspired.
Baldacci takes a late and none-too-nimble leap aboard the children’s-fantasy bandwagon with this tale of a rebellious teenager in a town surrounded by a monster-ridden forest.
Vega Jane gets by putting the finishing touches on high-quality manufactured goods (which, she later discovers, are thrown into a pit). She gets inklings both that Wormwood has a hidden past and isn’t the world’s only settlement after the town’s other Finisher flees into the deadly Quag, leaving behind a map and a bestiary that catalogs its creatures. Before she finally follows him, hundreds of pages later, she is forced to compete in the town’s Duelum, which is a regular round of previously males-only bare-knuckle fights for which there is no clear rationale. In labored efforts to create a sense of otherness, the author trots in a host of invented animals (garms, adars, jabbits and so on) and uses British cant (“The niff that bloke sent off…”). He also replaces all mention of “man,” “woman,” “human” and “dog” with, respectively, “male,” “female,” “Wug” or “Wugmort,” and “canine,” as in: “a male had killed his female for no cause other than he was a vile Wug” and “I didn’t like my stuff male-handled.” Despite these efforts, this is all familiar territory, from the isolated town with secretive leaders bent on preserving the status quo to violent visions, hidden rooms and libraries, characters with ambiguous agendas, a hot-tempered teen protagonist with nascent magical powers and three magical tools that practically fall into her hands. There’s even a ring. With some perfunctory martial training from her boyfriend, Vega Jane improbably defeats several ravening monsters as well as a string of much larger and more experienced males, then flies off over the town walls to have future adventures.
Like many crossover efforts from name-brand authors: overstuffed and underinspired. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: March 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-65220-9
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2014
Callie and Zettel bring this stellar trilogy to a satisfyingly sentimental conclusion
Calliope Margaret LeRoux deMinuit, half-human and half-Unseelie, Heir to the Midnight Throne, can save or destroy all of fairykind.
Now that Callie and best friend Jack have rescued Callie’s parents, everything’s going to be just fine, right? Jack, Callie and her parents reach Depression-era Chicago, struggling against dangers both magical (cold iron, which has a worse effect on Callie’s Unseelie father, Daniel LeRoux, than on half-fairy Callie) and mundane (the racism of Jim Crow, which endangers dark-skinned Daniel more than light-skinned, half-white Callie). After all the time she and Jack have spent fighting to escape the Seelie and Unseelie courts while rescuing Callie’s folks, she’s confident and independent. But her father is ancient, powerful and protective; Callie hates how Daniel’s “ordering [her] around like a little kid.” Zettel beautifully places this age-old generational conflict into her distinctive world. Callie and Jack want to help the Halfers, half-fairy elemental creatures composed of paper, electricity and other urban magics; Daniel calls them “Undone” and orders Callie to stay far away from the strange magic he despises. Ultimately, all the powers that be want to use Callie’s magic to win the war for their side, and nobody cares what happens to Callie, Jack or the Halfers, raising the stakes to frighteningly high levels.
Callie and Zettel bring this stellar trilogy to a satisfyingly sentimental conclusion . (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-375-86940-2
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2014
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