by Lydia Millet ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 10, 2017
Memorably unusual but haphazard; the series peaked with its opener, The Fires Beneath the Sea (2011).
Children, adults, and myriad creatures fight the final battle in a war over climate change.
The Cold One, an obscure being living under the ocean, has spent centuries both piggybacking on and masterminding global warming so he can colonize the Earth’s surface (The Shimmers in the Night, 2012). Fighting against him are fantastical creatures ancient and modern, a handful of white kids from Cape Cod, and a mother who’s a shape shifter (otter, bear, marine biologist) and “part of an ancient culture with its own secret knowledge.” This ancient knowledge is vast: genius youngest sibling Jax—a Charles Wallace Murry type—can control others, read minds, and enter the internet with his mind; sister Cara sees places from afar. None of this “old way technology” is explained, just used; genrewise, the book completely fuses science fiction with fantasy. Action moves between a Boston technological institute/refuge and the open Atlantic for battles. The Cold One takes control of a U.S. Navy submarine to discharge a nuclear missile, which brings narrative urgency and desperation; however, the question of climate change aside from what might be wrought by that imminent nuclear explosion fades, oddly, weakening the eco-fantasy thrust. Pacing is dense, rushed back stories feel inorganic, and characterizations are loose—but relationships are tender.
Memorably unusual but haphazard; the series peaked with its opener, The Fires Beneath the Sea (2011). (Fantasy. 9-13)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-61873-128-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Big Mouth House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2016
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by Dan Gemeinhart ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2024
Fans of the first book will find much to appreciate in this heartfelt story of growth and change.
Coyote hits the highway again in this follow-up to 2019’s The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise.
Set one year later, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, this sequel finds Coyote Sunrise and her father, Rodeo, both cued white, having settled into a house in Oregon, with Rodeo receiving counseling and Coyote attending school for the first time in five years. But with school canceled for three weeks, it’s the perfect time for father and daughter to traverse the country in their bus. They’re off in search of a lost volume of poetry by Mary Oliver in which Coyote’s mother wrote down the location where they should scatter her ashes. As before, the pair accumulate a motley assemblage of fellow travelers who fall under the spell of the quirky duo. Coyote’s narrative flair propels the novel, but the emotional underpinnings have shifted. Thirteen-year-old Coyote’s parentified role has lessened, and, aggravated by challenges with classmates, she displays a believably volatile early-adolescent tone in her narration and behavior. Her friend Salvador, who’s Latine, is an empathetic, well-developed character. Thanks to Gemeinhart’s trademark compassion, each character participates in moments of poignant humanity, but many supporting characters feel more lightly sketched in, including Thai American former corporate lawyer Wally, who experiences anti-Asian racism related to the unfolding pandemic; purple-haired coder Candace, Rodeo’s new girlfriend; and a grieving older Englishwoman named Doreen.
Fans of the first book will find much to appreciate in this heartfelt story of growth and change. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781250292773
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2013
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno
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