A fast-paced, feel-good romp.
Evoking a golden-age sensibility, this pulpy origin story is short on dialogue, rife with onomatopoeic sound effects, and rendered in Technicolor hues.
Within, 15-year-old orphan Pepper Page is a 25th-century fangirl: introverted, out of place, and obsessed with superheroine Supernova. Pepper’s only power—an encyclopedic recall of vintage comics—proves of little value in school. Though she dreams of fighting for what’s right, best friends Zola and Tally always handle her bullies. Everything changes when Pepper stumbles on an experiment conducted by Professor Killian, a renegade physicist masquerading as a history teacher. After falling through space-time alongside a cat she seeks to rescue, Pepper finds herself staring down the Overlords of Order within the Supersymmetry of Suns—from her favorite comic. According to these omnipotent, omniscient, oversized disembodied babies’ heads with a proclivity for end rhyme, Pepper’s precious comics were actually training manuals: She is Supernova, and the time has come to beat back the forces of chaos in the 21st century. Aided by Mister McKittens (the energies that transformed Pepper into Supernova also affected the cat), Pepper must prevent the pretentious, power-hungry Killian from assuming unimaginable power. There’s just one problem: Mired in trepidation, unsure of herself, and too familiar with Supernova’s arc, Pepper has no interest in saving the universe. Walker and Jones lean in to their metafictive adventure, deftly admixing superhero tropes into Pepper’s down-to-earth emotional journey. Pepper, Zola, and Killian present White; Tally has brown skin.
A fast-paced, feel-good romp. (gallery) (Graphic science fiction. 11-16)Pub Date: Feb. 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-21691-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This title has all the ingredients—a doughty heroine and her admirable younger brother, an unreliable guide who can’t stay...
This fantasy follow-up to A Path Begins (2014) continues the story of 12-year-old Kara Westfall and her brother, Taff, who escape their village by riding the mare Shadowdancer into the surrounding Thickety.
Tension picks up from Chapter 1, as the siblings flee through the forest. The children fall asleep on horseback and wake up in a huge meat-eating plant called a gritchenlock. Luckily, Kara remembers a trick their mother taught her that makes the plant drop them. Landing at the feet of the infamous witch Mary Kettle, Kara has to—reluctantly—accept the old witch as a guide and teacher. The siblings must evade monstrous animals; cross the Draye’varg, a dangerous mound of boulders that create dangerous simulacra; and, finally, destroy Imogen, a terrifying, tentacled predator. And then there is the Forest Demon….The unexpected climax and ending guarantee another book to enjoy. Readers new to the series will catch up quickly thanks to White’s adept incorporation of back story.
This title has all the ingredients—a doughty heroine and her admirable younger brother, an unreliable guide who can’t stay the same age for long, and a heavy “ick” factor—to keep readers glued to it. (Fantasy. 11-15)Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-225729-1
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2014
A droll addition to the magical school genre, worthy of a seat toward the front of the (Harry) Potter-wagon.
Will assaults from within and without close a renowned school for minions—leaving the Evil Overlords of the world to draw from rival schools?
Not if Runt Higgins, newest addition to the exclusive Junior Henchman Training program, has anything to say about it. The deck looks stacked, though. A devastating video of panicked Critchlore grads fleeing a group of (apparent!) Girl Explorers has gone viral, and an ongoing string of near disasters prevents recovery. Not only that, a massive explosion in the local graveyard has robbed the school of its chief source of undead new students. Even worse, iron-willed headmaster Dr. Derek Critchlore has suddenly taken to distractedly watching TV soaps and is in danger of being replaced. Kind, thoughtful and so naïve that he’s continually being victimized by pranksters, Runt really isn’t henchman material—but significant clues and loose ends hint that he’ll be achieving a higher station in planned sequels. Moreover, Grau supplies him with loyal friends from half-ogre foster brother Boris to bolt-necked Frank Twenty-five, whose head tends to fly off in a shower of gore when he’s upset. Frequent side jokes and Sutphin’s accomplished caricatures of students, faculty and staff, both human and non-, add comical flourishes.
A droll addition to the magical school genre, worthy of a seat toward the front of the (Harry) Potter-wagon. (pictorial cast list) (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: April 21, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4197-1370-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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