Overwrought at times, but still an entertaining read.
Hidden beings that help humanity unlock their true potential face a threat from within their ranks.
Walking unnoticed alongside the living are creatures known as testers, beings who push unknowing individuals through, and into, great hardships, so that those people may have the chance to improve themselves. But pure altruism is not what drives these influence peddlers, as their continued existence relies on the energy they take from each push, putting them in a karmic balance with humans in which, without one, the other can never achieve. Newest among them is Matthew Huntington, who joins this complicated world during a time of upheaval. His mentor, the powerful ex-Roman slave Epp, is about to become the center of a war between current and former testers, the latter of which now more closely resemble zombies than angels. A reluctant participant in this fight, Matthew travels from the bars of Manhattan to the summit of Everest, and meets a nun-turned-sexpot and an impoverished samurai, all to discover how much the possibility of greatness is worth. Devon’s (The Letter, 2000, etc.) world-building is exemplary, and he explores every aspect of the testers with unmatched attention to detail, even addressing the manner in which they tangentially interact with the land of the living. Most of this exposition is well-executed, particularly as it concerns the characters and their backstories, feeding seamlessly into the narrative for greater dramatic effect. The novel does have uneven moments, especially when the author explains the abilities of the testers and their zombie counterparts, too often stopping the story completely to introduce a new rule. The book starts slowly, but those able to weather the tedious exposition will be treated to an exciting modern-day fantasy tale.
Overwrought at times, but still an entertaining read.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2009
ISBN: 978-1441403865
Page Count: 282
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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