An engrossing, god-filled delight.
In this companion to Cervantes’ Storm Runner trilogy, powerful godborn Renata Santiago must unearth a way to prevent the resurrection of the Lords of Night.
Grappling with her return to relative normality, 14-year-old Ren—daughter of Pacific, the Mayan goddess of time, and heir of the most powerful shadow brujxs on her father’s side—pursues a tip emailed to her alien-sighting blog, Eyes in the Sky. Ren’s search for alien life leads her to an unsettling discovery: a strange symbol etched into a cornfield, where a sinister voice fills her head. It references the mysterious Lords of Night, nine powerful Aztec gods who were linked to fates both good and bad. Worse yet, the cinco, a rogue band of godborns, could be involved. Aided (somewhat) by her bestie Ah-Puch—the Mayan god of death and destruction, now mostly powerless from a recent misadventure—Ren teams up with Edison, a teen demon hybrid, and 11-year-old Aztec hunter Montero. Their mission: to hunt the cinco and stop their ungodly alliance with the Lords of Night even as shadows inexplicably pull Ren closer to an unforeseen fate. This volume sizzles with madcap fun, interweaving icons and figures from Mayan and Aztec mythology with dizzying results. The author excels at making these gods and goddesses cool and familiar. In the second half, many truths kept from Ren fall into fabulous place, spiraling into an exciting cliffhanger. This duology opener is accessible to readers who are new to this world.
An engrossing, god-filled delight. (glossary) (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-368-06656-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Rick Riordan Presents/Disney
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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