Girl-power fights make up for less-successful elements.
Princess-turned-gladiatrix Fallon must defend Ludus Achillea from treachery in Livingston’s ancient Rome.
Although she pines for her sweetheart, decurion Cai, and hosting the sullen gladiators of rival Ludas Amazona for mock combat games to entertain elites is far from glorious, things are looking up for Fallon. Her older sister, the Lanista of Ludus Achillea, is about to receive the deed to the school, which means all of its gladiators will be free, fighting by choice instead of because they’re forced. But villainous tribune Pontius Aquila and his secret society, the Sons of Dis (a death cult that eats the hearts of fallen gladiators to gain their strength), have other plans. Instead of Ludus Amazona, Fallon and her fellows find themselves facing actual Amazons. To counter Aquila, the gladiators must navigate treacherous schemes and concoct plans of their own. Of the whiplash-inducing quantity of betrayals, very few will come as a surprise. While all of Fallon’s plans eventually pay off, they’re frequently laid out in blocks of exposition that disrupt the story’s rhythm. The story’s strongest in fight scenes, with techniques well-matched to the characters and situations. Racial descriptors come in the form of side characters’ origins—besides Romans and Greeks, some, such as Queen Cleopatra, come from Aegypt; some are “desert herders; others are Germanic or Celtic, like Fallon.
Girl-power fights make up for less-successful elements. (Historical fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-448-49472-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
Though it lacks references or suggestions for further reading, Arn's agonizing story is compelling enough that many readers...
A harrowing tale of survival in the Killing Fields.
The childhood of Arn Chorn-Pond has been captured for young readers before, in Michelle Lord and Shino Arihara's picture book, A Song for Cambodia (2008). McCormick, known for issue-oriented realism, offers a fictionalized retelling of Chorn-Pond's youth for older readers. McCormick's version begins when the Khmer Rouge marches into 11-year-old Arn's Cambodian neighborhood and forces everyone into the country. Arn doesn't understand what the Khmer Rouge stands for; he only knows that over the next several years he and the other children shrink away on a handful of rice a day, while the corpses of adults pile ever higher in the mango grove. Arn does what he must to survive—and, wherever possible, to protect a small pocket of children and adults around him. Arn's chilling history pulls no punches, trusting its readers to cope with the reality of children forced to participate in murder, torture, sexual exploitation and genocide. This gut-wrenching tale is marred only by the author's choice to use broken English for both dialogue and description. Chorn-Pond, in real life, has spoken eloquently (and fluently) on the influence he's gained by learning English; this prose diminishes both his struggle and his story.
Though it lacks references or suggestions for further reading, Arn's agonizing story is compelling enough that many readers will seek out the history themselves. (preface, author's note) (Historical fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: May 8, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-173093-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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