Neff offers a meaty, nearly 600-page series opener, an indulgence for readers thirsting for a futuristic cloak-and-daggers plot with magical creatures, including an elusive dragon that fraternizes only with the royalty of this post-Cataclysmic Earth.
After a prologue, readers meet young Hazel Faeregine, who is not interested in her family’s royal position within Impyrium. It is not only her lack of interest in politics that sets her apart from her olive-skinned sisters; Hazel is an albino, the only one in a set of triplets, which caused speculation of possibly wicked sorcery and makes most uneasy in her presence. Alternating chapters turn to 13-year-old, nut-brown Hob Smythe, who works in the mines beneath the Sentries Mountains. A stranger shows up in Hob’s small village of Dusk, revealing himself as a member of the Fellowship and recruiting young Hob to spy on the Faeregines to gain secrets that could possibly liberate the people under Impyrium rule. Hob accepts the invitation, which brings him together with Hazel and ultimately uncovers much more than anyone thought. The heady politics of the story mimics the classic rulers-versus–the-impoverished narrative, with an adolescent version of a Game of Thrones–like plot that unfurls with players on both sides vying for their rightful places.
Despite its length, this is a nicely paced adventure that attaches readers to the bookworm Hazel and the heroic Hob and leaves plenty of room for future installments. (character list and glossary) (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-239205-3
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 2, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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The dreary prospect of spending a lifetime making caskets instead of wonderful inventions prompts a young orphan to snatch up his little sister and flee. Where? To the circus, of course.
Fortunately or otherwise, John and 6-year-old Page join up with Boz—sometime human cannonball for the seedy Wandering Wayfarers and a “vertically challenged” trickster with a fantastic gift for sowing chaos. Alas, the budding engineer barely has time to settle in to begin work on an experimental circus wagon powered by chicken poop and dubbed (with questionable forethought) the Autopsy. The hot pursuit of malign and indomitable Great-Aunt Beauregard, the Coggins’ only living relative, forces all three to leave the troupe for further flights and misadventures. Teele spins her adventure around a sturdy protagonist whose love for his little sister is matched only by his fierce desire for something better in life for them both and tucks in an outstanding supporting cast featuring several notably strong-minded, independent women (Page, whose glare “would kill spiders dead,” not least among them). Better yet, in Boz she has created a scene-stealing force of nature, a free spirit who’s never happier than when he’s stirring up mischief. A climactic clutch culminating in a magnificently destructive display of fireworks leaves the Coggin sibs well-positioned for bright futures. (Illustrations not seen.)
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish. (Adventure. 11-13)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234510-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
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BOOK REVIEW
Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense.
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In the midst of political turmoil, how do you escape the only country that you’ve ever known and navigate a new life? Parallel stories of three different middle school–aged refugees—Josef from Nazi Germany in 1938, Isabel from 1994 Cuba, and Mahmoud from 2015 Aleppo—eventually intertwine for maximum impact.
Three countries, three time periods, three brave protagonists. Yet these three refugee odysseys have so much in common. Each traverses a landscape ruled by a dictator and must balance freedom, family, and responsibility. Each initially leaves by boat, struggles between visibility and invisibility, copes with repeated obstacles and heart-wrenching loss, and gains resilience in the process. Each third-person narrative offers an accessible look at migration under duress, in which the behavior of familiar adults changes unpredictably, strangers exploit the vulnerabilities of transients, and circumstances seem driven by random luck. Mahmoud eventually concludes that visibility is best: “See us….Hear us. Help us.” With this book, Gratz accomplishes a feat that is nothing short of brilliant, offering a skillfully wrought narrative laced with global and intergenerational reverberations that signal hope for the future. Excellent for older middle grade and above in classrooms, book groups, and/or communities looking to increase empathy for new and existing arrivals from afar.
Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense. (maps, author’s note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: July 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-88083-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
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