An exciting, exotic tale that occasionally overwhelms with its intricacy.
In this middle-grade historical-adventure novel, set in 1912 Morocco, a group of misfit children are kidnapped and sold as slaves to the vicious lord of a casbah.
Tariq is a street-wise orphan from Tangier who has spent his life just trying to survive. Just as he has finally found happiness in the care of the kind Zijuan, slave traders kidnap him and sell him as a camel jockey to the ruthless Caid Ali Tamzali. Also in his company are Margaret, the daughter of a British naval captain, who was kidnapped from her hotel; Fez, a brainiac from the mountains whose entire tribe was murdered; and Aseem, who was sold by his own father when he could no longer care for him. The four become fast friends, united in their desire to escape the evil Caid before they die in his service. Plotlines involve Margaret’s father tangling with pirates, Zijuan negotiating with Moroccan crime lords and a group of rebel fighters plotting to overthrow Caid’s casbah. The complex story, like its main characters, rarely stops to take a breath, hopping around in time to reveal the various back stories of its diverse ensemble. This provides tremendous insight into everyone’s motivations, but it can also grow dizzying. Some of the dialogue falls flat, but the action is so intense that many readers will hardly notice the words being said. Debut author O’Neill incorporates a great deal of cultural and historical context into his story; detailed descriptions of clothes, meals, weather and more will make readers feel as though they have traveled back in time and fallen into that world. The cliffhanger ending all but demands that readers jump to the next installment in the series.
An exciting, exotic tale that occasionally overwhelms with its intricacy.Pub Date: April 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-0985196943
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Black Ship Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A solid debut: fluent, funny and eminently sequel-worthy.
Inventively tweaking a popular premise, Jensen pits two Incredibles-style families with superpowers against each other—until a new challenge rises to unite them.
The Johnsons invariably spit at the mere mention of their hated rivals, the Baileys. Likewise, all Baileys habitually shake their fists when referring to the Johnsons. Having long looked forward to getting a superpower so that he too can battle his clan’s nemeses, Rafter Bailey is devastated when, instead of being able to fly or something else cool, he acquires the “power” to strike a match on soft polyester. But when hated classmate Juanita Johnson turns up newly endowed with a similarly bogus power and, against all family tradition, they compare notes, it becomes clear that something fishy is going on. Both families regard themselves as the heroes and their rivals as the villains. Someone has been inciting them to fight each other. Worse yet, that someone has apparently developed a device that turns real superpowers into silly ones. Teaching themselves on the fly how to get past their prejudice and work together, Rafter, his little brother, Benny, and Juanita follow a well-laid-out chain of clues and deductions to the climactic discovery of a third, genuinely nefarious family, the Joneses, and a fiendishly clever scheme to dispose of all the Baileys and Johnsons at once. Can they carry the day?
A solid debut: fluent, funny and eminently sequel-worthy. (Adventure. 10-12)Pub Date: Jan. 21, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-06-220961-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
Fare to satisfy readers captivated by disaster, particularly outdoor enthusiasts, but less satisfying to aspiring feminists.
When a hurricane strikes the Alabama coastal swamps, it takes real expertise to survive.
Cort, 13, wants his father to pay attention to their bill-paying river-guide work on the Tensaw River delta instead of trying to win back Cort’s mother, who walked out six months ago. The intimidating geography and frightening nature of the swamp are established at the beginning of the book, when Cort and his dad take two hunters up the bayou to kill a gator. A momentary lull in the action follows on their return, and longtime residents of the Gulf Coast will find familiar the calm preparations that are made as Hurricane Igor approaches. Things begin to go wrong when Cort is left alone with the neighbor girls; Liza is Cort’s age, but Francie is 6. Spiraling disaster (including a cottonmouth bite suffered by Liza) leaves Cort feeling completely responsible for the safety and well-being of the three. While Cort relies on what he has learned from his father, it’s clear that it’s not enough. The unusual gathering of desperate animals escaping from high water is critical to the book’s suspense, as are the girls’ helplessness and fear. Though their situation emphasizes Cort’s determination to save them and throws his heroism into relief, it is unfortunate that the story can’t find a way for them to contribute.
Fare to satisfy readers captivated by disaster, particularly outdoor enthusiasts, but less satisfying to aspiring feminists. (Adventure. 9-13)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-374-37430-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
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