Bursting with literary references, this single-plot sequel incorporates familiar tales galore. Romantic Aurora, feisty/grumpy Storm and preternaturally verbal toddler Anything are enjoying domestic peace when wicked witch Belladonna hunts them down to eat Aurora’s heart and steal Storm’s magical pipe (a corrupting, all-powerful object constantly seeking its true owner, à la the One Ring). Archetypes weave through the plot (Snow White, Orpheus and Eurydice, Pandora’s Box, the Frog Prince, Red Riding Hood), while classic motifs pop up everywhere (wicked stepmother, magical talisman, three sisters). Allusions so subtle they might be nonexistent twinkle a playful presence (does that tavern invoke The Muppet Movie?). This has a looser weave than Into the Woods (2007), with its metaphysical rules inorganic and rushed. The sisters are frustratingly naïve, instantly believing news from unreliable sources that a loved one is dead, over and over again. However, the ending’s particularly nice, neither happily-ever-after nor not so, and the overall double-meta is delicious, with characters from the Grimms’ tales (and the Grimms themselves) and Greek myths both part of the sisters’ cultural landscape and elements in the story itself. Grey’s illustrations not seen. (Fantasy. 8-11)
Pub Date: April 13, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-385-75154-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: David Fickling/Random
Review Posted Online: Dec. 31, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This fractured fairy tale features a hip contemporary voice but relies too heavily on relayed history. Opening with a line that captures both context and fabulously sardonic attitude—“Once upon a time, Jack wouldn’t have been caught dead in a princess rescue”—Riley quickly establishes his protagonists: Jack, pragmatic but mopey, waiting for any chance to rescue a princess, and May, sporting blue-streaked hair, a cell phone and a Punk Princess T-shirt, who has dropped in from another realm. Jack assumes that May’s a princess; May knows only that her grandmother was kidnapped. They set out to rescue grandma, picking up an elegant prince who annoys Jack by being competent. May’s voice is more often feistily modern (“Then you went and got eaten! What’s that about!?”) than stilted (she describes grandma as “[s]o full of life”), but she's positioned within the narrative mainly to be fought over and protected. Unfortunately, plot twists and revelations all derive their meaning from past events in Jack’s world, forcing the text to be so expository that emotional investment never quite catches up. (Fantasy. 8-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4169-9593-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
A good questing novel for readers seeking a simple, lighthearted adventure.
Three children set out on a quest to prove they can be heroes.
Bartok, a 12-year-old Black boy, was nicknamed Fart by the master he apprentices under after choosing Gas Attack as his first spell to learn. He wants to be an exalted mage instead of an average human. Fart and his group—Pan Silversnow, Moxie Battleborne, and their respective masters—are only three months into a yearlong journey. They must prove they can survive the wilderness of the Fourteen Realms while helping others and defeating evildoers in order to graduate from Krakentop Academy for Heroes. When the masters are obliterated before their very eyes, Moxie and Pan are ready to head back to the academy, but Fart insists that they should use the opportunity to demonstrate their bravery. After taking their masters’ belongings, the trio defeat a hobgoblin then set off in search of heroic escapades. Chaos ensues as the group comes up against giant bees, ogres, and other mythical creatures. Though the story is told from Fart’s perspective, Moxie and Pan are just as important as the three learn to work as a team and recognize each other’s strengths. The humorous writing, wacky names, lively, cartoonlike illustrations, and simple text will especially appeal to reluctant readers. Pan is an elf who is cued as Asian; Moxie is a dwarf who appears White.
A good questing novel for readers seeking a simple, lighthearted adventure. (map) (Fantasy. 8-11)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-20636-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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