An ambitious but awkward mashup of nursery-tale whimsy, Gothic tropes and modern didactic moralism.
Jane Eyre meets the Three Bears.
Once upon a time, in the faux-Victorian enclave of the Enchanted Forest, sentient creatures lived in harmony with humans—until the Anthropological Society began agitating for human supremacy. In this fraught atmosphere, the Vaughn family, three bears of great refinement, engage the young and naïve bear Ursula Brown as governess. Like any proper heroine, she forms an immediate bond with her charge, Teddy, and tumbles into star-crossed love. Still, she is troubled by ominous forebodings about Teddy’s resentful Nurse, the bigotry seething within the quaint village, and, above all, the dark secrets lurking in the titular stately mansion. Then, one night, a human girl with golden curls steals into her room….Ursula narrates in a deliberately old-fashioned cadence with “had I but known” asides. Principled and sincere, her dedication to Teddy and Goldilocks compels admiration, and the devoted friendship between cub and child is genuinely heartwarming. But the heavy-handed condemnation of prejudice jars oddly against Ursula’s genteel snobbishness, and her romance is downright mawkish. Like the other Enchanted beasts, her cultivated comportment—including corsets, pianofortes, Latin studies and conventional Christian piety—downplays her animal nature, making each reference to snouts, paws and fur appear intrusive. Likewise, the cameo appearances by storybook characters, while occasionally clever, often seem forced.
An ambitious but awkward mashup of nursery-tale whimsy, Gothic tropes and modern didactic moralism. (Fantasy. 10-16)Pub Date: Feb. 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-75573-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
A spectacular return to a magical world.
Following the events of Impossible Creatures (2024), a devoted Guardian teams up with a brave princess to fight her power-hungry uncle and save the Archipelago’s dragons from a strange new threat.
Jacques the dragon summons Christopher Forrester back to the Archipelago from the human world: Dragons are dying, and no one knows why. Meanwhile, on the island of Dousha, Princess Anya’s grandfather, King Halam, has been murdered, and her father accused—though she knows he’s innocent. When Christopher and Anya take refuge on the islet of Glimt, the Berserker Nighthand helps them see how their twin missions to save the dragons and free Anya’s father are connected. They work together to create an antidote for the poison that’s killing the dragons and to keep Anya and her father safe from her murderous uncle. Meanwhile, Nighthand and Irian, the part-nereid ocean scholar, pursue their own important secret mission. Divided into three parts—“Castle,” “Dragons,” and “Revenge”—and containing elements of fairy tales, fantasy, and Shakespeare, this story continues the storyline established in the series opener, yet because it introduces new characters and obstacles, it could also stand alone. Dark-blond Anya (“five feet tall and all of it claws”) is a match for white-presenting Christopher, who, though he still misses Mal, finds that “it made a difference to have someone to move through the world with again. A friend changed the feel of the universe.” Mackenzie’s delicate, otherworldly art adorns the text.
A spectacular return to a magical world. (map, bestiary) (Fantasy. 10-15)Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780593809907
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
PROFILES
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious.
If you made a recording to be heard by the aliens who found the iPod, what would you record?
For 11-year-old Alex Petroski, it's easy. He records everything. He records the story of how he travels to New Mexico to a rocket festival with his dog, Carl Sagan, and his rocket. He records finding out that a man with the same name and birthday as his dead father has an address in Las Vegas. He records eating at Johnny Rockets for the first time with his new friends, who are giving him a ride to find his dead father (who might not be dead!), and losing Carl Sagan in the wilds of Las Vegas, and discovering he has a half sister. He even records his own awful accident. Cheng delivers a sweet, soulful debut novel with a brilliant, refreshing structure. His characters manage to come alive through the “transcript” of Alex’s iPod recording, an odd medium that sounds like it would be confusing but really works. Taking inspiration from the Voyager Golden Record released to space in 1977, Alex, who explains he has “light brown skin,” records all the important moments of a journey that takes him from a family of two to a family of plenty.
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-18637-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
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