A rousing adventure.
Buddy Burger carries on in this sequel to Lights, Camera, Danger! (2020).
Now that Citizen Cruel has been dealt with, alien superstar Buddy has nowhere to go but up: His TV show, Oddball Academy, is being given a sweet hourlong special, and if the suits think it's strong enough, the silver screen will be next. But unbeknownst to Buddy, the Supreme Leader has decided to take matters into his own alien hands and head to Earth in an effort to capture Buddy once and for all. Will he finally be taken prisoner by the Supreme Leader? Will Oddball Academy become the next teen sensation? Will the weird romantic chemistry between Buddy and his human gal pal, Cassidy Cambridge, be resolved? This third series entry gets things back on track after a weak second outing. Buddy and Cassidy remain the most nuanced characters, but at this point readers have spent enough time in Buddy’s Hollywood that the tertiary one-dimensional gag machines come off as a feature rather than a bug. The authors are able to inject some real menace in the narrative with the Supreme Leader’s finally getting his hands dirty, spinning an engaging yarn that’ll have readers turning pages as quickly as possible. The narrative clicks into place, moving effectively while still boasting plenty of humor. Spot art—and the occasional full-page illustration—amplifies the hijinks and cues Cassidy as Black; Buddy presents as White when in human form.
A rousing adventure. (Science fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4684-0
Page Count: 296
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship.
A young tennis champion becomes the target of revenge.
In this sequel to Legacy and the Queen (2019), Legacy Petrin and her friends Javi and Pippa have returned to Legacy’s home province and the orphanage run by her father. With her friends’ help, she is in training to defend her championship when they discover that another player, operating under the protection of High Consul Silla, is presenting herself as Legacy. She is so convincing that the real Legacy is accused of being an imitation. False Legacy has become a hero to the masses, further strengthening Silla’s hold, and it becomes imperative to uncover and defeat her. If Legacy is to win again, she must play her imposter while disguised as someone else. Winning at tennis is not just about money and fame, but resisting Silla’s plans to send more young people into brutal mines with little hope of better lives. Legacy will have to overcome her fears and find the magic that allowed her to claim victory in the past. This story, with its elements of sports, fantasy, and social consciousness that highlight tensions between the powerful and those they prey upon, successfully continues the series conceived by late basketball superstar Bryant. As before, the tennis matches are depicted with pace and spirit. Legacy and Javi have brown skin; most other characters default to White.
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-949520-19-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Granity Studios
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
Thrills galore for gamers willing to go along for the ride.
A new virtual-reality theme park goes haywire on a crowd of young victims, er, visitors in Alexander’s latest screamfest.
Having scored one of just 100 coveted preview tickets to a cutting-edge, kids-only venue dubbed ESCAPE, budding amusement park fan and designer Cody Baxter is looking forward to a life-changing experience. What he gets is more of a life-threatening one, as games and rides with names like Triassic Terror and Haunted Hillside not only pit him against a monster and then zombies—or sometimes a monster and zombies—as well as ruthless competing players, but seem tailored to play on individual personal terrors. And, in some never explained way, the VR quickly turns into real battles that inflict real wounds even as the real settings shift with sudden, dizzying unpredictability. Teaming up with loyal new friends Jayson Torn and Inga Andersdottir, the former described as being Japanese and White and the latter as Norwegian, Cody (who seems to default to White) struggles for survival, learning ultimately that ESCAPE was created by an evil genius with an ulterior motive who is convinced that he can teach children a salutary lesson. The plot’s no more logical in its twists and contrivances than the premise, but the author’s knack for spinning out nightmarish situations is definitely on display here as the tale careens toward a properly lurid outcome.
Thrills galore for gamers willing to go along for the ride. (Light horror. 9-12)Pub Date: June 7, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-26047-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2022
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