Steers a predictable course but does deliver mild thrills along the way.
A disastrous family sail into the Bermuda Triangle strands two cousins on an uncharted island with unusual—and sometimes dangerous—residents.
Stocked with characters and creatures that will attract younger members of the Percy Jackson fandom, this opening escapade begins with an attack by a sea monster that casts 13-year-old Riley and her alienated, pestiferous 12-year-old cousin, Alfie, ashore on Atlantis, an island where time has slowed down. There, mutually hostile camps of magical creatures and stranded humans, who are gradually turning into talking beasts of various sorts through a process called “de-evolution,” steer suspiciously clear of each other. Eager to escape—and driven by the possibility that his mom and her dad might also have survived the attack—the cousins put aside their antipathy to enlist local allies and, by the end, to engineer, as titularly promised, an escape. O’Hearn further cranks up the mythological vibe by chucking in a siren (friendly), feral mermaids and unicorns (not so much), lotuslike Memory Berries that rob the eater of both recall and the desire to leave, and giant gargoyles that turn to stone in sunlight. Riley is outraged to discover that the partially transformed people—including a mild-mannered koala who positively channels Mr. Tumnus—are exploited as labor but ostracized for their physical differences by the nonaltered. Main human characters follow a White default.
Steers a predictable course but does deliver mild thrills along the way. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Dec. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-5691-4
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
A wonderfully frightening tale.
Children are snatched from their beds and erased from all memory.
Levi and Kat often feel like they’re the only ones out of place in their small suburban town of Cowslip Grove. The two children feel a slight remove from their classmates and families; the one thing binding them together is their ability to see what everyone else cannot: Children are disappearing. And no one else seems to remember these children ever existed. After Levi’s younger sister, Twila, is taken by this evil force, Levi and Kat embark on a journey into the town’s sinister past to try to save her and stop the monster once and for all. The spooky tale is complemented by ink illustrations that will give even the bravest reader a case of the willies. The narrative is smartly structured, moving the characters forward at a perfect pace that balances the tricky trifecta of thrills, exposition, and character development. This is one hell of a middle-grade read, the kind that will spark imaginations as it is read late at night under the covers with a flashlight. Levi and Kat appear White; the black-and-white illustrations seem to show some human ethnic diversity. (This review has been updated to reflect changes to the final book.)
A wonderfully frightening tale. (Horror. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-358-12853-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
A kid adventurer with a disability makes this steampunk offering stand out.
Orphaned twins, an adventurer dad lost to an ice monster, and an airship race around the world.
In Lontown, 12-year-old twins Arthur and Maudie learn that their explorer father has gone missing on his quest to reach South Polaris, the crew of his sky-ship apparently eaten by monsters. As he’s accused of sabotage, their father’s property is forfeit. The disgraced twins are sent off to live in a garret in a scene straight out of an Edwardian novel à la A Little Princess. Maudie has the consolation of her engineering skills, but all Arthur wants is to be an adventurer like his father. A chance to join Harriet Culpepper’s journey to South Polaris might offer excitement and let him clear his father’s name—if only he can avoid getting eaten by intelligent ice monsters. Though some steampunk set dressing is appropriately over-the-top (such as a flying house, thinly depicted but charming), adaptive tools for Arthur’s disability are wonderfully realistic. His iron arm is a standard, sometimes painful passive prosthesis. The crew adapts the airship galley for Arthur’s needs, even creating a spiked chopping board. Off the ship, Arthur and Maudie meet people and animals in vignettes that are appealingly rendered but slight. Harriet teaches the white twins respect for the cultures they encounter on these travels, though they are never more than observers of non-Lontowners’ different ways.
A kid adventurer with a disability makes this steampunk offering stand out. (Steampunk. 9-11)Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-324-00564-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Norton Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
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