Part survival story, part video game mystery, all solid fun that readers will easily get caught up in.
Nielsen takes the baton from Scott Westerfeld in the newest installment of the Horizon series, raising the stakes for the seven young plane crash survivors, now all honorary Team Killbot members.
Though suffering from an unusual injury inflicted by the “dreadful duck of doom,” Molly, an African-American girl from New York City, has stepped up to lead the group across the dangerous and impossible arctic rift they’ve found themselves in. Hopefully, on the other side of the desert they’ve named the Blood Sand they’ll find both answers and help. But the Blood Sand holds dangers, both natural (or unnatural, as the case may be) and mechanical, that will test them in both body and spirit. With every threat and loss, they come closer to learning why they were saved and by whom. In third-person–limited chapters that offer the barest glimpses into the histories of Molly and three other members of Team Killbot (Yoshi, who’s biracial, Japanese and white; Anna, who’s white, and Javi, who’s black Latino), Nielsen moves the story arc forward, setting up the next episode. While the book doesn’t stand alone (and isn’t meant to), the action is smooth, and the diversity of the cast (accurately represented on the book cover) refreshing, making for an engaging read.
Part survival story, part video game mystery, all solid fun that readers will easily get caught up in. (Science fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-338-12141-4
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2017
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship.
A young tennis champion becomes the target of revenge.
In this sequel to Legacy and the Queen (2019), Legacy Petrin and her friends Javi and Pippa have returned to Legacy’s home province and the orphanage run by her father. With her friends’ help, she is in training to defend her championship when they discover that another player, operating under the protection of High Consul Silla, is presenting herself as Legacy. She is so convincing that the real Legacy is accused of being an imitation. False Legacy has become a hero to the masses, further strengthening Silla’s hold, and it becomes imperative to uncover and defeat her. If Legacy is to win again, she must play her imposter while disguised as someone else. Winning at tennis is not just about money and fame, but resisting Silla’s plans to send more young people into brutal mines with little hope of better lives. Legacy will have to overcome her fears and find the magic that allowed her to claim victory in the past. This story, with its elements of sports, fantasy, and social consciousness that highlight tensions between the powerful and those they prey upon, successfully continues the series conceived by late basketball superstar Bryant. As before, the tennis matches are depicted with pace and spirit. Legacy and Javi have brown skin; most other characters default to White.
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-949520-19-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Granity Studios
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
Thrills galore for gamers willing to go along for the ride.
A new virtual-reality theme park goes haywire on a crowd of young victims, er, visitors in Alexander’s latest screamfest.
Having scored one of just 100 coveted preview tickets to a cutting-edge, kids-only venue dubbed ESCAPE, budding amusement park fan and designer Cody Baxter is looking forward to a life-changing experience. What he gets is more of a life-threatening one, as games and rides with names like Triassic Terror and Haunted Hillside not only pit him against a monster and then zombies—or sometimes a monster and zombies—as well as ruthless competing players, but seem tailored to play on individual personal terrors. And, in some never explained way, the VR quickly turns into real battles that inflict real wounds even as the real settings shift with sudden, dizzying unpredictability. Teaming up with loyal new friends Jayson Torn and Inga Andersdottir, the former described as being Japanese and White and the latter as Norwegian, Cody (who seems to default to White) struggles for survival, learning ultimately that ESCAPE was created by an evil genius with an ulterior motive who is convinced that he can teach children a salutary lesson. The plot’s no more logical in its twists and contrivances than the premise, but the author’s knack for spinning out nightmarish situations is definitely on display here as the tale careens toward a properly lurid outcome.
Thrills galore for gamers willing to go along for the ride. (Light horror. 9-12)Pub Date: June 7, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-26047-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2022
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