Still, humorous dialogue and harrowing escapes will keep action-oriented readers mostly entertained. (Supernatural action....
Wisecracks, gadgets and fast-paced action sequences abound in the second book about Alex Van Helsing, a 14-year-old boy with a supernatural gift for sensing evil.
The evil, in this case, is old-fashioned malevolent vampires, headquartered in the Scholomance, “a school and a research facility and a massive organization all rolled into one,” hidden under Lake Geneva. Nearby are Alex's all-boys' boarding school, Glenarvon Academy, and a central office of the Polidorium, an international vampire-fighting agency with which Alex is slowly becoming involved. Action is the main focus here, and Alex's two vampire nemeses pose constant threats. Elle, who menaced Alex and his friends in book one, toys with Alex with the elaborateness (and propensity for being foiled at the last minute) of a Bond villain. Ultravox, the new bad guy, is subtler: His genuinely unsettling powers of persuasion can convince humans to attack others or to harm themselves. Astute readers will figure out the vampires' secret M.O. and notice traps before Alex does, and a few references, like a Polidorium agent's horror that Alex hasn't heard of New Wave music, seem thrown in for adults.
Still, humorous dialogue and harrowing escapes will keep action-oriented readers mostly entertained. (Supernatural action. 12-14)Pub Date: July 26, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-195101-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2011
A charming adaptation.
A miscommunication leaves Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert responsible for a plucky, effusive orphan girl instead of the boy they’d expected to help maintain their farm.
Retold in traditional manga format, with right-to-left panel orientation and detailed black-and-white linework, this adaptation is delightfully faithful to the source text. Larger panels establish the idyllic country landscape while subtle text boxes identify the setting—Prince Edward Island, Canada, in the 1870s. The book follows redheaded Anne Shirley from her arrival at Green Gables at 11 to her achievement of a college scholarship. In the intervening years, Anne finds stability, friendship, personal growth, and ambition in Avonlea and in the strict but well-intentioned Cuthbert siblings’ household. The familiar story is enhanced by the exciting new format and lush illustrations. A variety of panel layouts provides visual freshness, maintaining reader interest. Backmatter includes the floor plan of the Green Gables house, as well as interior and exterior views, and notes about research on the actual location. A description of the process of adapting the novel to this visual format indicates the care that was taken to highlight particular elements of the story as well as to remain faithful to the smallest details. Readers who find the original text challenging will welcome this as an aid to comprehension and Anne’s existing fans will savor a fresh perspective on their beloved story. All characters appear to be White.
A charming adaptation. (Graphic fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-947808-18-8
Page Count: 308
Publisher: Manga Classics
Review Posted Online: Aug. 18, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Not much forward momentum but a tasty array of chills, thrills, and chortles.
The victory of Jacob and his fellow peculiars over the previous episode’s wights and hollowgasts turns out to be only one move in a larger game as Riggs (Tales of the Peculiar, 2016, etc.) shifts the scene to America.
Reading largely as a setup for a new (if not exactly original) story arc, the tale commences just after Jacob’s timely rescue from his decidedly hostile parents. Following aimless visits back to newly liberated Devil’s Acre and perfunctory normalling lessons for his magically talented friends, Jacob eventually sets out on a road trip to find and recruit Noor, a powerful but imperiled young peculiar of Asian Indian ancestry. Along the way he encounters a semilawless patchwork of peculiar gangs, syndicates, and isolated small communities—many at loggerheads, some in the midst of negotiating a tentative alliance with the Ymbryne Council, but all threatened by the shadowy Organization. The by-now-tangled skein of rivalries, romantic troubles, and family issues continues to ravel amid bursts of savage violence and low comedy (“I had never seen an invisible person throw up before,” Jacob writes, “and it was something I won’t soon forget”). A fresh set of found snapshots serves, as before, to add an eldritch atmosphere to each set of incidents. The cast defaults to white but includes several people of color with active roles.
Not much forward momentum but a tasty array of chills, thrills, and chortles. (Horror/Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7352-3214-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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