Despite quibbles, it’s sure to satisfy fans of Carolyn Meyer, Dear America, and Lasky’s own previous World War II fiction.
A rarely told story of sisterhood, passion, and survival during World War II.
Valya, 16, has always struggled with feelings of jealousy toward her older sister, Tatyana. When their mother allows Tatyana to join the Soviet military and become a Night Witch, a fighter pilot of the 588th Regiment, and forces Valya to stay home, it is almost too much for Valya to bear. A naturally skilled flier, taught by her father, she knows she was born for the sky and feels her talents are desperately wasted on the ground: Stalingrad in 1941 is besieged on three sides by Nazi forces, and she knows she could make a difference. When her mother and grandmother are killed and her father declared MIA, Valya’s time arrives, and she starts her journey to become a Night Witch. Occasional infodumps slow the narrative momentum but provide interesting context to readers who may not be familiar with the Soviet Union’s involvement in World War II. Repeated references to American and British children’s literature feel forced and clunky in Valya’s first-person narration, and oddly absent are either ideological commentary on them or references to beloved Russian children’s literature. Though this inevitably begs comparison to Code Name Verity, it’s a different book: a fast-paced slice of history for younger teens.
Despite quibbles, it’s sure to satisfy fans of Carolyn Meyer, Dear America, and Lasky’s own previous World War II fiction. (Historical fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: March 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-68298-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2017
There’s some originality here, though it’s hard to unearth amid all the melodrama
An illegitimate girl who hopes to find her creative passion may be connected to another kingdom’s magical history.
At 10, white, orphaned Brienna was brought to Magnalia House. For the last seven years she’s studied to become an arden, an apprentice passion, with the goal of finding her patron. The arden-sisters study art, dramatics, music, wit, and knowledge; Brienna, who has no true vocation, has eccentrically studied in all the fields. Though she doesn’t truly belong among the talented (and somewhat racially diverse) noble girls of Magnalia House, they are her beloved friends. Perhaps once she’s passioned, she can even act on her romantic feelings for the white knowledge master. But Brienna’s having strange visions lately; could they be ancestral memories of an unknown forbear from the neighboring country? What with romance, jealousy, family drama, betrayals, ancient magical history, and characters with multiple secret identities, there’s a nigh-constant pitch of throbbing…well, passion. A voice is like “tamed thunder,” and hair is like “a stream of silver.” Malapropisms abound (“punctures of laughter”; “her beauty warbled by the mullioned windows”). Oddly, most of the shocking revelations of back story are openly detailed in the lengthy family trees at the novel’s opening.
There’s some originality here, though it’s hard to unearth amid all the melodrama . (Fantasy. 13-15)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-247134-5
Page Count: 464
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2017
A revolution in Istanbul behind them, Alek and Deryn travel wherever the living airship Leviathan is ordered by the British...
The Leviathan trilogy-ender delivers on the promise of the series: thrilling airship battles, world travel, ginormous Tesla coils and a few daring smooches.
A revolution in Istanbul behind them, Alek and Deryn travel wherever the living airship Leviathan is ordered by the British Empire. Deryn knows Alek’s secret—that he is heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire—but Alek doesn't know that Deryn is truly a girl. They don't have much time to spare for their own personal soap opera as they freewheel around war-torn continents, from Siberia to Japan to the United States to Mexico. Alek and Deryn escape ravenous fighting bears tall as houses, ride atop a gale-tossed airship and star in motion pictures. The whole is peppered with sagacious statements from the tragically underused Perspicacious Lorises, faux-simple creatures always ready to spout off a wise word or three. This entry is relatively light on the steam-powered clankers and genetically engineered beasties that drove the first two volumes of the trilogy, replacing them with repeated airborne drama. Still, any lost steampunky science is compensated for by nonstop action; it's hard to mind theatrical revelations when they occur in a made-for-CGI storm. Besides, in the midst of all that action Alek learns the art of navigation and how to measure the weight of water; how cool is that?Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4169-7177-1
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
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