A big, flashy, and—most importantly—fun finale.
In this trilogy conclusion, heroes of multiple worlds must bring the fight to the Mimics.
Titan Astraea, Zephyr, and company want to venture to Tremenz, the Mimics’ home world, to rescue their abducted friends and the other captives but are too busy defending Xanadu from the attacking Mimics and Shadow Titans. When they finally get a chance to strategize, Jupiter insists they focus on reclaiming Titus before moving to attack Tremenz. Pegasus joins Astraea, Zephyr, and their friends in disagreeing and in going on a secret mission to Zomos, with the goal of tricking giant, dangerous snake Lergo into the Solar Stream, sending it to Tremenz to eat Mimics. Meanwhile, captive human Jake’s forced to witness (and undergo) cruel, torturous experiments by the Mimics before he and his snake friend, Nesso, manage to liberate themselves, other captive snakes, and the young Titan snake charmer, Angitia (Jake nicknames her Angie). They manage to locate one of the prison camps and plan a liberation but also find a badly wounded Mimic—a newly hatched queen sentenced to die for her peaceful nature—whom Jake names and insists on saving. Constant action makes for a fast-paced read as Mimic mythos is unveiled to raise the stakes, lending this volume the most weight of the trilogy, and the heroes round out their arcs about overcoming differences. Human characters read as White.
A big, flashy, and—most importantly—fun finale. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: July 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-1710-6
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
Compulsively readable; morally uncomfortable.
Six New Jersey 12-year-olds separated by decades race to ensure the “good guys” win World War II in this middle-grade work by the author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and her brother, a children's author and journalist.
It all starts with a ham radio that Alice, Lawrence, and Artie fool around with in 1944 and Henry, Frances, and Lukas find in 2023. It’s late April, and the 1944 kids worry about loved ones in combat, while the 2023 kids study the war in school. When, impossibly, the radio allows the kids to communicate across time, it doesn’t take long before they share information that changes history. Can the two sets of kids work across a 79-year divide to prevent the U.S.A. from becoming the Nazi-controlled dystopia of Westfallen? This propulsive thriller includes well-paced cuts between times that keep the pages turning. Like most people in their small New Jersey town, Alice, Artie, and Frances are white. In 1944, Lawrence, who’s Black, endures bigotry; in the U.S.A. of 2023, Henry’s biracial (white and Black) identity and Lukas’ Jewish one are unremarkable, but in Westfallen, Henry’s a “mischling” doing “work-learning,” and Lukas is a menial laborer. Alice’s and Henry’s dual first-person narration zooms in on the adventure, but readers who pull back may find themselves deeply uneasy with the summary consideration paid to the real-life fates of European Jews and disabled people. The cliffhanger ending will have them hoping for more thoughtful treatment in sequels to come.
Compulsively readable; morally uncomfortable. (Science fiction/thriller. 10-13)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9781665950817
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
A very promising kickoff with arbitrary but intriguingly challenging magic.
A middle schooler discovers both up and down sides to being able to foretell the future.
Members of the Cleary clan in alternating generations have always been granted predictive powers on their 4,444th day of life, and Celia has been eagerly looking forward to her first vision—until, that is, it comes and reveals that cute, quiet classmate Jeffrey is slated to die in a hit-and-run. Weighing her horror against her wise Grammy’s warnings that fate is inexorable, she contrives a way to head off the accident…only to foresee another fatal mishap in his future. And another. By the time she’s saved his life five times in a row, she’s not only exhausted, but crushing on the hapless lad. (As, unsurprisingly, he is on her.) Reintgen generally keeps the tone of his series opener light, so even after Celia discovers that there’s ultimately a tragic price for her intervention, the ensuing funeral service is marked by as much laughter as sorrow. The author surrounds his frantic but good-hearted protagonist with a particularly sturdy supporting cast that includes gratifyingly cooperative friends as well as her Grammy and loving, if nonmagical, mom. There don’t seem to be many Cleary men around; perhaps that and certain other curious elements, like a chart listing particular Cleary specialties with names such as Dreamwalker and Grimdark, will be addressed in future entries. Main characters read as White.
A very promising kickoff with arbitrary but intriguingly challenging magic. (Fantasy. 10-13)Pub Date: May 31, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66590-357-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
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