Hightman’s dragons are refreshingly evil, directly responsible for all the world’s ills: wars, pollution, disasters, crime, corruption, even chronic depression. Having spent most of his 13 years at an exclusive boarding school, lonely, undersized Simon knows nothing of this, until his father, Aldric St. George, snatches him from school with the news that he is the last of an ancient order of Dragonhunters. It’s his duty to exterminate the Pyrothraxes, the human-sized reptilian Dragonmen whose variable “magics” apparently function mostly to display unpleasant national stereotypes. Their nemeses aren’t much better: Aldric is scruffy, surly, and disappointingly unpaternal; Simon is torn between resentment, fear, and despair at his shortcomings in the family trade. But there is little time for adolescent angst, as the Dragons unfold a terrifying plot for mass destruction. Like a novelization of some unfilmed summer blockbuster, the story piles on nonstop action, terrific set pieces, and lots of spectacular fiery explosions to distract readers from the clunky prose, wooden characters, and nonsensical, cliché-ridden plot. If they can stop to catch a breath, they’ll probably just wait for the movie. (Fantasy. 12-15)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-06-054011-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
PLB 0-7868-2401-8 In a work of science fiction, Lasky (A Brilliant Streak, 1998, etc.) tackles both the morality of human cloning and the potential for people to cover their tracks through the time-honored tradition of manipulating language. Darci has grown up believing she’s a “Genhant,” or genetically enhanced human, one of the privileged people in a future society where all babies are to some degree genetically planned. She doesn’t understand why she is attracted to the “Originals,” people with only minimal genetic alterations, or why she is interested in the meaning of words others take for granted. Through careful plotting, Lasky throws readers some intriguing “ethical” bones to chew on, e.g., when Darci comes face to face with her own clone, are they exactly the same person or is there some intrinsic difference’something like a soul? Can language cover up as well as it can explain? These intellectual tussles will foster discussion, especially since the issues are already part of the public forum. If the story has weaknesses, it is in some of its assumptions, e.g., that hundreds of years into the future, societal structures such as the nuclear family will still exist, when even today it seems to be crumbling. (Fiction. 11-15)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-7868-0459-9
Page Count: 204
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1999
A heartfelt but awkwardly paced novel of an orphan finding her way in 1910 Vermont. Harriet, 13, loses her mother when their horse shies from an automobile. Still barely comprehending her loss, she must also leave the house she and her mother shared to go live with her dead father Walter’s gruff sister. Sarah has had a hard life, and it shows, as she teaches Harry how to churn, gather hay, and find eggs, with little patience for her niece’s longing for school, or for the colt she loves, foal of the mare who died when her mother did. Sarah hated Harry’s mother, too, implying that pregnancy forced her beloved Walter into marriage. Harry doesn’t know the family story, but visits to the cemetery and the stories of another uncle help her piece together her past and offer her insight into Sarah’s brittleness. The emotional transitions are abrupt; the story predictably comes out all right when Harry’s school tuition gets paid, and when she and Sarah recognize their ties in blood and feeling. Readers will be comforted by the cozy denouement, and by Haas’s evocative descriptions of Vermont in the early years of this century. (Fiction. 9-14)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-688-16260-6
Page Count: 185
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1999
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