A moving, thoughtful apprentice tale.
Sixteen-year-old Baz’s coming-of-age journey exceeds all his expectations.
The traditional Middle Eastern village in which Baz lives offers no opportunity for advancement. His father is a skilled woodcarver, but that does not seem to be Baz’s destiny. He longs for anything that might bring adventure or even just an interesting break in the routine. After all, both of his brothers are learning trades far away. So when he is offered an apprenticeship, he is anxious to meet his future. There is an inevitable progression to Baz’s journey, not only in distances traveled, but in lessons learned. Each of his masters, whether kind or cruel, has something to teach him, but it is Tadis the magician who has the most impact on him. During their travels together, Baz is exposed to people of many skills and personalities, and he experiences natural phenomena ranging from desert storms to earthquakes. From all this he learns patience, concentration and empathy. Herein lies both the strength and weakness of the work. Banks’ lilting, soaring syntax and sympathetic characters and Sis’ intricate, exquisite little illustrations do not completely compensate for the overly mystical obscurity of Tadis’ nuggets of wisdom. Although everything turns out well for Baz, young readers may not really understand how it all came about.
A moving, thoughtful apprentice tale. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-374-34716-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Frances Foster/Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2012
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
If it were a Golden Age comic, this tale of ridiculous science, space dogs and humanoid aliens with flashlights in their hands might not be bad. Alas... Number Four is a fugitive from the planet Lorien, which is sloppily described as both "hundreds of lightyears away" and "billions of miles away." Along with eight other children and their caretakers, Number Four escaped from the Mogadorian invasion of Lorien ten years ago. Now the nine children are scattered on Earth, hiding. Luckily and fairly nonsensically, the planet's Elders cast a charm on them so they could only be killed in numerical order, but children one through three are dead, and Number Four is next. Too bad he's finally gained a friend and a girlfriend and doesn't want to run. At least his newly developing alien powers means there will be screen-ready combat and explosions. Perhaps most idiotic, "author" Pittacus Lore is a character in this fiction—but the first-person narrator is someone else entirely. Maybe this is a natural extension of lightly hidden actual author James Frey's drive to fictionalize his life, but literature it ain't. (Science fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-196955-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
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