A sharply built adventure with engaging characters.
An everyday kid discovers shocking family secrets.
Scottish teen Charlie Ray never thought of himself as anything out of the ordinary. The most unusual thing to happen to him in the past few months was his father’s walking out on him and his mom. But one night a strange girl emerges from Charlie’s closet, calling herself Daffodil McNugget and claiming to have a message from Charlie’s father. Gerry is revealed to be a retired computer hacker. In fact, both Charlie’s parents were highly paid corporate raiders who would break into big corporations and anonymously leak scandalous information about them to the press. Gerry was recently drawn out of retirement for a job gone wrong: The elusive Manticorps created “Frankie,” artificial intelligence that developed all sorts of deadly weapons to sell. Gerry reprogrammed Frankie and deleted the corporation’s research but left too much of a trail and had to go on the run. Now it’s up to Charlie, Daffodil, and Frankie to clean up the mess. The ensuing adventure is a whirlwind of action and breathless exposition that moves the novel along nicely. The characters pop well enough, given just enough shading to come off as more than two-fisted pulp heroes. While it may not be a beacon of originality, it’s still a lot of fun. Characters are assumed white.
A sharply built adventure with engaging characters. (Thriller. 10-14)Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-782505-17-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Kelpies
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Evocations of Narnia are not enough to salvage this fantasy, which struggles with thin character development.
A portal fantasy survivor story from an established devotional writer.
Fourteen-year-old Eva’s maternal grandmother lives on a grand estate in England; Eva and her academic parents live in New Haven, Connecticut. When she and Mum finally visit Carrick Hall, Eva is alternately resentful at what she’s missed and overjoyed to connect with sometimes aloof Grandmother. Alongside questions of Eva’s family history, the summer is permeated by a greater mystery surrounding the work of fictional children’s fantasy writer A.H.W. Clifton, who wrote a Narnialike series that Eva adores. As it happens, Grandmother was one of several children who entered and ruled Ternival, the world of Clifton’s books; the others perished in 1952, and Grandmother hasn’t recovered. The Narnia influences are strong—Eva’s grandmother is the Susan figure who’s repudiated both magic and God—and the ensuing trauma has created rifts that echo through her relationships with her daughter and granddaughter. An early narrative implication that Eva will visit Ternival to set things right barely materializes in this series opener; meanwhile, the religious parable overwhelms the magic elements as the story winds on. The serviceable plot is weakened by shallow characterization. Little backstory appears other than that which immediately concerns the plot, and Eva tends to respond emotionally as the story requires—resentful when her seething silence is required, immediately trusting toward characters readers need to trust. Major characters are cued white.
Evocations of Narnia are not enough to salvage this fantasy, which struggles with thin character development. (author’s note, map, author Q&A) (Religious fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Jan. 30, 2024
ISBN: 9780593194454
Page Count: 384
Publisher: WaterBrook
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
Well-educated American boys from privileged families have abundant options for college and career. For Chiko, their Burmese counterpart, there are no good choices. There is never enough to eat, and his family lives in constant fear of the military regime that has imprisoned Chiko’s physician father. Soon Chiko is commandeered by the army, trained to hunt down members of the Karenni ethnic minority. Tai, another “recruit,” uses his streetwise survival skills to help them both survive. Meanwhile, Tu Reh, a Karenni youth whose village was torched by the Burmese Army, has been chosen for his first military mission in his people’s resistance movement. How the boys meet and what comes of it is the crux of this multi-voiced novel. While Perkins doesn’t sugarcoat her subject—coming of age in a brutal, fascistic society—this is a gentle story with a lot of heart, suitable for younger readers than the subject matter might suggest. It answers the question, “What is it like to be a child soldier?” clearly, but with hope. (author’s note, historical note) (Fiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: July 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-58089-328-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2010
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