by KB Shaw ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 23, 2015
A fun, tech-focused YA novel set in a futuristic yet familiar world.
Two teenage friends from different parts of the United States embark on a high-tech adventure in Shaw’s (Neworld Papers: The Warriors’ Tale, 2016, etc.) YA sci-fi tale.
GundTech, the technology firm that revolutionized the world years ago with its cutting-edge communication and artificial-intelligence products, has a new device that’s poised to change everything once again. The Interactive Holographic Transporter allows users to experience a virtual reality so real that it may even be physically dangerous. For Cameron Rush in Wisconsin and Rosa Costas in New Mexico, the best part of the announcement involves the creation of an IHT Academy for teenagers like them. Although the two have never met in person and come from very different backgrounds, they’re both “geeks” (whether Cameron will admit it or not) who hang out via their GundTech multiComs. For them, the reward of getting accepted to the academy outweighs any potential risks. What they don’t know is that there are other forces at work behind the scenes. For one, the mysterious child prodigy behind GundTech’s inventions is grown up now and starting to realize that his well-intentioned products can cause unintended consequences. And the tech’s code still has some bugs, including some that are dangerous and others that that may have been planted by someone (or something) with his or her own agenda. Shaw has crafted a thought-provoking story that hints at issues that today’s youth already face, such as how technology can be a boon as well as a bane, but he never lets these topics overwhelm the joy of the overall story. Young readers will quickly relate to Cameron and Rosa as they get swept up in their virtual studies. However, the story sags a bit in the second half due to the introduction of a game called “time tag,” a neat idea, but one that distracts too much from the plot. Some readers may be dismayed at the all-too-abrupt ending, as well. But most will find this novel to be an intelligent, inspiring adventure with fully formed characters.
A fun, tech-focused YA novel set in a futuristic yet familiar world.Pub Date: Jan. 23, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-692-37518-1
Page Count: 326
Publisher: iPulpFiction.com
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by KB Shaw
by Nora Roberts ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 13, 1995
Thoroughbreds and Virginia blue-bloods cavort, commit murder, and fall in love in Roberts's (Hidden Riches, 1994, etc.) latest romantic thriller — this one set in the world of championship horse racing. Rich, sheltered Kelsey Byden is recovering from a recent divorce when she receives a letter from her mother, Naomi, a woman she has believed dead for over 20 years. When Kelsey confronts her genteel English professor father, though, he sheepishly confesses that, no, her mother isn't dead; throughout Kelsey's childhood, she was doing time for the murder of her lover. Kelsey meets with Naomi and not only finds her quite charming, but the owner of Three Willows, one of the most splendid horse farms in Virginia. Kelsey is further intrigued when she meets Gabe Slater, a blue-eyed gambling man who owns a neighboring horse farm; when one of Gabe's horses is mated with Naomi's, nostrils flare, flanks quiver, and the romance is on. Since both Naomi and Gabe have horses entered in the Kentucky Derby, Kelsey is soon swept into the whirlwind of the Triple Crown, in spite of her family's objections to her reconciliation with the notorious Naomi. The rivalry between the two horse farms remains friendly, but other competitors — one of them is Gabe's father, a vicious alcoholic who resents his son's success — prove less scrupulous. Bodies, horse and human, start piling up, just as Kelsey decides to investigate the murky details of her mother's crime. Is it possible she was framed? The ground is thick with no-goods, including haughty patricians, disgruntled grooms, and jockeys with tragic pasts, but despite all the distractions, the identity of the true culprit behind the mayhem — past and present — remains fairly obvious. The plot lopes rather than races to the finish. Gambling metaphors abound, and sexual doings have a distinctly equine tone. But Roberts's style has a fresh, contemporary snap that gets the story past its own worst excesses.
Pub Date: June 13, 1995
ISBN: 0-399-14059-X
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1995
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2008
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of...
Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest (Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.
Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today-like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of poignancy.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
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