A riveting second act.
Facing possible deportation, imminent war, and a nest of “usually benevolent but now vicious coiling water dragons,” Chen Peasprout and her friends skate into full gear.
Entering her second year at Pearl Famous Academy of Skate and Sword, Peasprout is still reeling from the discoveries of Book 1—and readers new to the series should start there. Charming classmate Hisashi returns to Pearl with the mysterious Wu Yinmei, allegedly seeking refuge from her great-great-grandmother, the ruthless Shinian Empress Dowager. As the school transforms into a military academy, the three students, along with Peasprout’s best friend, Doi, and brainy younger brother, Cricket, join forces (team name: Nobody and the Fire-Chickens) to outwit their classmates and defend Pearl. Lien hits his stride in this second installment, as the series’ many narrative threads begin to coalesce. The Asian-inspired fantasy, with its presumably all-Asian (or fantasy equivalent) cast, takes on weighty and relevant questions of gender, ability, leadership, immigration, conservation of natural resources, national identity, and political change with intelligence, deftness, and precision. Romances, including one between two girls, are realistically awkward (but maybe less realistically chaste—though they are still in their early teens) while the friendships, sibling relationships, and rivalries continue to provide the story’s emotional core. And Peasprout is its snarky, brilliant, hilarious, and utterly human heart. Readers, who have to wait for the next volume to see what happens next, will echo one of Peasprout’s favorite imprecations: “Ten thousand years of stomach gas.”
A riveting second act. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-16575-6
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Nov. 25, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
Ponderous and protracted, with more work needed on both the world and the characters.
Two young teens with special powers face an ancient evil rising from the very heart of the Tinvali Empire in this doorstopping series opener.
Pursued by ruthless agents eager to exploit her mysterious ability to read peoples’ true feelings, Arden—eventually, after many chapters alternating between dual narrators—links up with foundling Mako, a budding music mage who’s carefully hiding the fact that he’s invited an invisible smooth-talking trickster spirit named Narrix to be his lifelong guardian. It seems that some of Narrix’s fellow spirits may be even nastier—and there are ominous hints that they might be sneaking back into the world. Several of Arden’s adventures do more to bulk up the page count than advance the plot in any meaningful way, and though (like many of Mull’s protagonists) she’s a dab hand at snarky banter, she otherwise comes off as a rather wooden character. Readers may find Mako’s journey and conflicts more absorbing, as he struggles to balance the joy of blossoming into an outstanding warrior under Narrix’s tutelage with the sneaking suspicion he’s made a bad choice of tutor. Whether his concerns are valid or not remains to be seen. The leads present white.
Ponderous and protracted, with more work needed on both the world and the characters. (Fantasy. 10-13)Pub Date: April 14, 2026
ISBN: 9780593712047
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Labyrinth Road
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
