The lively final volume of a charming series.
Stevens’ middle-grade fantasy-trilogy conclusion sees his titular hero revisiting loved ones and battling his sorceress nemesis.
Thirteen-year-old Dirk lives with his family on a farm in Britannia, which is under Roman control. Last year, he escaped a curse, created by the sorceress Ethelda, and, thanks to Beldor, the High Wizard of the West, he can use a magic ring to change between human and dragon forms. He’s restless for adventure and misses his friends, so he sneaks away to visit Beldor at his cave. The wizard and his companion, Ydda, help the boy forge a magical sword. Dirk then plans to visit the island of Codhaven, where his beloved Galinda lives and is about to celebrate her 13th birthday. However, a strange white bird has been observing Dirk—an extension of Ethelda, who craves revenge for the death of her husband, Augurald, who was killed by dragon fire. She’s also manipulating other people who might help her find the Wand of the Black Sphere. It turns out that a cracked, black orb is now in the possession of Roman commander Lucius Cassius Taurinus—and that Dirk may have a second, intact wand. The third volume of Stevens’ middle-grade series is a perfect balance of education and entertainment. A few light opening scenes reintroduce readers to the city of London before it became a teeming metropolis. Unusual terms, such as “triclinium”—a room for lounging and eating—are unobtrusively defined in the story. Along with vibrant history, the author ably develops two major themes. The first is that animals should be treated like people; Dirk can speak with various fauna and has friends among them, such as Pinkfoot, a goose. The boy protagonist also longs to visit the wild while toiling on his family’s farm. The second theme is that family is about more than mere blood relationship; Dirk still considers his dragon-mother, Gernith, to be an important part of his life regardless of the curse that initially bound them together. Detailed illustrations by the author enliven scenes throughout.
The lively final volume of a charming series.Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-9963839-8-1
Page Count: 238
Publisher: Dragon's Egg Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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