In this debut middle-grade fantasy tale, the first in a series, three brothers set out on a quest to uncover the identity of a magical arsonist and protect their homeland from a sinister scheme.
The kingdom of Galray is a typical, old-school fantasy realm, in which knights spar, dragons soar, and women are few and far between. When a freak lightning storm sets the nearest village ablaze with an unquenchable flame, King Reynold suspects foul play, so he enlists his three sons to track down the perpetrator and determine his motives. His eldest son, Ingle, and twins Horace and George think they have a lead, as they spied a shadowy figure skulking around the castle tower on the night of the storm. Now they must trek through Galray and other, more distant lands to seek the Oracle of the mountain, who they believe can direct them to the truth. Along the way, they get cryptic advice from gnomish trickster Rifflesly and encounter a rogue ice dragon who might be the key to solving the mystery. It’s a story as straightforward as a role-playing-game campaign, and Cumming provides clean, effective prose throughout. It reads like a well-designed Dungeons & Dragons session, and like D&D heroes, the brothers are defined more by their skills, such as their sharp senses, than by their personalities. Similarly, the supporting cast is as two-dimensional as the book’s black-and-white illustrations. The drawings’ cartoonish simplicity identifies the novel as one meant for the younger set, as does the shape-shifting Rifflesly, Cumming’s version of the Cheshire Cat. His eccentric speech patterns and riddles may frustrate or delight readers, but they may wonder why he or the Oracle would bother to help the brothers. It’s equally hard to grasp the motivations of the villain, the Black Knight, but perhaps the author will explore his psyche further in the sequel.
A lightweight, pleasant adventure for younger readers, featuring derring-do but little psychological depth.
Pub Date: June 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1460238455
Page Count: 144
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Good Guys and Bad get just deserts in the end, and Stanley gets plenty of opportunities to display pluck and valor in this...
Sentenced to a brutal juvenile detention camp for a crime he didn't commit, a wimpy teenager turns four generations of bad family luck around in this sunburnt tale of courage, obsession, and buried treasure from Sachar (Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger, 1995, etc.).
Driven mad by the murder of her black beau, a schoolteacher turns on the once-friendly, verdant town of Green Lake, Texas, becomes feared bandit Kissin' Kate Barlow, and dies, laughing, without revealing where she buried her stash. A century of rainless years later, lake and town are memories—but, with the involuntary help of gangs of juvenile offenders, the last descendant of the last residents is still digging. Enter Stanley Yelnats IV, great-grandson of one of Kissin' Kate's victims and the latest to fall to the family curse of being in the wrong place at the wrong time; under the direction of The Warden, a woman with rattlesnake venom polish on her long nails, Stanley and each of his fellow inmates dig a hole a day in the rock-hard lake bed. Weeks of punishing labor later, Stanley digs up a clue, but is canny enough to conceal the information of which hole it came from. Through flashbacks, Sachar weaves a complex net of hidden relationships and well-timed revelations as he puts his slightly larger-than-life characters under a sun so punishing that readers will be reaching for water bottles.
Good Guys and Bad get just deserts in the end, and Stanley gets plenty of opportunities to display pluck and valor in this rugged, engrossing adventure. (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 978-0-374-33265-5
Page Count: 233
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A snappy mystery that’s full of heart.
A group of bright friends tackles the puzzle of their lives.
Elmwood, New Hampshire, 11-year-old Gina Sparks is small in stature but big on reporting ongoing dramas for the local newspaper with support from her journalist mom. When an unbelievable scoop comes her way, Gina must rely on her tightknit crew of sixth grade best friends whose initials happen to spell GEEK, a label they choose to proudly reclaim. She and science-minded prankster Elena Hernández, theater kid Edgar Feingarten, and driven math genius Kevin Robinson decide to get to the bottom of things when they learn that the Van Houten Toy & Game Company heir made elaborate plans to leave everything to the town of Elmwood before her death—but only if a member of the community could solve an intricate multistep puzzle. Gina hopes that deciphering the clues and finding the missing fortune will be just the thing to revitalize the down-on-its-luck town and bring the Elmwood Tribune back into the black, saving her mom’s job and Gina’s passion project. The GEEKs work together, using their individual talents and deductive reasoning skills to unravel the mystery. Infused with media literacy pointers, such as the difference between fact and opinion and reminders to avoid bias when reporting, the story encourages readers to think critically. Gina and Edgar read as White; Elena is cued as Latinx, and Kevin is implied Black.
A snappy mystery that’s full of heart. (Mystery. 9-13)Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-37793-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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