Completing the trilogy begun with The Snow Spider (1987), Nimmo again draws on Welsh legend to parallel an ancient tragedy with the trauma of a soldier who has failed to save his men from a disastrous fire in Belfast. Major Evan Llr comes to the small Welsh village to recover from an apparently invisible wound—not his first; long ago, his brother died in a fall from a tree, and those who knew gentle Evan were mystified by his seeming to acquire his more popular but angry brother's personality. Gwyn, boy-magician of the other books, becomes aware that Evan is possessed by the spirit of Efnisien, tormented half-brother of the mighty Bran. Ultimately, Gwyn manages to send Efnisien peacefully on to the Otherworld, thus restoring Evan. The legend is complex; drawing on her now-extensive cast for her modern counterpart, Nimmo attempts, with mixed success, to parallel every detail. The best in this series, Orchard of the Crescent Moon (1989), drew strength from its insightful presentation of the real characters; here, the focus is more on the less convincing magic. Gwyn the boy, tinkering with spells that he only half understands, and Gwyn the mighty magician are not sufficiently melded; moreover, the action—rather than being a contemporary drama illuminated by its heroic prototype—seems forced into the legend's mold, while the promising idea of linking Efnisien with modern battle stress is overburdened with clever but less than fully digested detail. Acceptable, but disappointing. (Fiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: May 30, 1991
ISBN: 0-525-44656-7
Page Count: 201
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The wish-fulfilling title and sun-washed, catalog-beautiful teens on the cover will be enticing for girls looking for a...
Han’s leisurely paced, somewhat somber narrative revisits several beach-house summers in flashback through the eyes of now 15-year-old Isabel, known to all as Belly.
Belly measures her growing self by these summers and by her lifelong relationship with the older boys, her brother and her mother’s best friend’s two sons. Belly’s dawning awareness of her sexuality and that of the boys is a strong theme, as is the sense of summer as a separate and reflective time and place: Readers get glimpses of kisses on the beach, her best friend’s flirtations during one summer’s visit, a first date. In the background the two mothers renew their friendship each year, and Lauren, Belly’s mother, provides support for her friend—if not, unfortunately, for the children—in Susannah’s losing battle with breast cancer. Besides the mostly off-stage issue of a parent’s severe illness there’s not much here to challenge most readers—driving, beer-drinking, divorce, a moment of surprise at the mothers smoking medicinal pot together.
The wish-fulfilling title and sun-washed, catalog-beautiful teens on the cover will be enticing for girls looking for a diversion. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: May 5, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4169-6823-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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