A high-sky winner all the way from coast to coast.
A laugh-out-loud thriller about family court, money laundering and skyjacking.
Nobody can navigate an airport like April Mae Manning. Her deceased father was a pilot, her mother is a flight attendant, and her “lying, greedy, odious sociopath” of a stepfather is a pilot. With her mother in Atlanta and her stepfather in LA, MacGyver-loving April has logged some serious miles as an unaccompanied minor. Thanks to her insider knowledge, she can read a flight manifest and negotiate TSA lines like no ordinary civilian. This savvy stands her in good stead when she finds herself with best friend and fellow unaccompanied minor Malcolm, his emotional-support dog, a kindhearted cop escorting a crook and the crustiest flight attendant in history on an L-1011 with a bomb in its hold and a crew infiltrated with hijackers on board. The narrative takes the form of April’s report to the FBI and the National Transportation Safety Board following the incident, and it’s laced with April’s trenchant commentary on the vagaries of family court and the inequities of the conditions of airline employment. Former flight attendant Gillespie’s insider knowledge infuses April’s account with confident authority. Her impeccable comic timing and command of April’s oh-so-15-year-old voice carry the plot through several unlikely but carefully laid-out contortions that will leave readers (and some of April’s friends) in stitches.
A high-sky winner all the way from coast to coast. (Thriller. 12-16)Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4405-6773-5
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Merit Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
Witty and funny, with well-rounded characters who face complex inner moral issues.
In a world dominated by order, chaos threatens to upend tradition when unlikely competitors are chosen to fight for the throne.
Emperor Erasmus is dead, leaving the Great Dragon to decide the future of the Etrusian Empire. Traditionally, the oldest child from each of the five Houses and his or her dragon compete for the throne. However, this time outsiders are called to compete: Chara and her rider, Emilia, youngest daughter of House Aurun, who holds the magic of chaos; Tyche and her rider, Lucian, reformed warrior of House Sabel; Karina and her rider, Vespir, the lowborn, lesbian servant girl and dragon handler of House Pentri; Dog and his rider, Ajax, the wily illegitimate son of House Tiber; and Minerva and her rider, Julia, who are challenged by Hyperia, who believes the throne is her birthright, and her feral dragon, Aufidius. During the stages of the Emperor’s Trial—the Hunt, the Game, the Race, and the Truth—each competitor faces their own personal weaknesses. Multiple perspectives create depth in this complex fantasy world with flawed human characters who have murder, destruction, thievery, and cowardice in their backgrounds. Cluess’ dragons have unique personalities and voices of their own, becoming as central to the story as their human riders. Most characters are cued as white; blonde hair and blue eyes are valorized. Vespir’s lesbian identity is neatly and naturally woven into her character.
Witty and funny, with well-rounded characters who face complex inner moral issues. (map) (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: May 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-525-64815-4
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful.
January 1945: as Russians advance through East Prussia, four teens’ lives converge in hopes of escape.
Returning to the successful formula of her highly lauded debut, Between Shades of Gray (2011), Sepetys combines research (described in extensive backmatter) with well-crafted fiction to bring to life another little-known story: the sinking (from Soviet torpedoes) of the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff. Told in four alternating voices—Lithuanian nurse Joana, Polish Emilia, Prussian forger Florian, and German soldier Alfred—with often contemporary cadences, this stints on neither history nor fiction. The three sympathetic refugees and their motley companions (especially an orphaned boy and an elderly shoemaker) make it clear that while the Gustloff was a German ship full of German civilians and soldiers during World War II, its sinking was still a tragedy. Only Alfred, stationed on the Gustloff, lacks sympathy; almost a caricature, he is self-delusional, unlikable, a Hitler worshiper. As a vehicle for exposition, however, and a reminder of Germany’s role in the war, he serves an invaluable purpose that almost makes up for the mustache-twirling quality of his petty villainy. The inevitability of the ending (including the loss of several characters) doesn’t change its poignancy, and the short chapters and slowly revealed back stories for each character guarantee the pages keep turning.
Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful. (author’s note, research and sources, maps) (Historical fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-16030-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
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