A safe, if mostly undemanding, climb to the lower slopes of high fantasy.
Two 16-year-olds cross between two worlds and search for dragon eggs in this debut novel.
When Sarah was 8 she befriended Mrs. Carter, an elderly lady who told her stories of a far-off land. Now 16 and bequeathed the woman’s watch, Sarah finds herself in Ingraham—that same magical place with its medieval castle and swooping dragoons (young dragons who remain in the human realm). Sarah and her best friend, Tom, go there when they sleep. Guided by the watch, they enjoy double lives: schoolchildren in one world, a serving girl and a prince in the other; asleep in one, in the other always waking to a new day. The people of Ingraham have a special relationship with their dragoons, and more than anything else, Sarah yearns to become a dragoon guard. Her conviction impresses Tom (“He hears a passion in her voice and sees her face and eyes light up as he has never seen before. Prince Thomas has throughout the years seen her want things, like her Mustang or a new CD that she just had to have, but this excitement is different now”). To have a chance, she must make it through the Quest Games, followed by training and then a perilous rite of passage—and she must escape the unwanted advances of a brazen sexual bully. Jewell writes as if caught between a desire to indulge her imagination and the need to assuage fantasy expectations. The class barrier between Sarah and Tom is reversed in Ingraham but more or less passed over; likewise, the changing of their names to Sara and Thomas, which, in a nice, subtle touch, begins to bleed through and blur between worlds. This is where the story shows potential, yet for the most part, the author sticks with the fantasy default settings (albeit garnished with dragoons and flying boars). Such familiarity may appeal to some readers, but although Jewell writes crisply in the present tense, she brings neither portent nor urgency to the Quest Games or the mission itself—or even to the threat of sexual assault. Sarah in particular is just too passive a character, and she and Tom receive too much support against not enough peril. Theirs is the journey of friends who are going through the motions, not living and breathing an epic adventure.
A safe, if mostly undemanding, climb to the lower slopes of high fantasy.Pub Date: July 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5218-9364-7
Page Count: 261
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 8, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A swift fable about navigating the perils of middle school.
A bossy middle school fashionista feels threatened by the new girl in Saii’s YA novel.
Vanessa Pocker and her friends Chelsea, Adrienne and Katie are the richest of the rich in their Santa Monica, Calif., middle school, and they comprise the Sassy Divas. Vanessa leads the pack and dictates whom the divas are allowed to talk to, what they’re allowed to wear and how they conduct themselves in public. Vanessa is so domineering that it’s a miracle she has any friends at all. Had Saii endowed her with an ounce of kindness, the loyalty of her minions might be more understandable. Vanessa’s militant nature finally alienates Katie, the diva who is too much of a bookworm, according to Vanessa. Katie befriends Flo, who’s on the Sassy Diva “do not speak to” list (Flo had once refused to hold Vanessa’s purse). Excommunicated from the Sassy Divas, Katie befriends the new girl at the school, Quinn. This infuriates Vanessa, and she declares war. A power play ensues among the adversarial lip-glossed sets, with Vanessa, Chelsea and Adrienne on one side and Katie, Quinn and Flo on the other. Vanessa turns to guy friend Ryan, who offers the only voice of reason when he admonishes her for obsessing over trivialities, such as revenge and makeovers, when there are starving children in the world. He seems to be nothing more than Vanessa’s sounding board, and it’s unclear what he gets out of the relationship. At least Vanessa buys clothes and makeup for her divas, on occasion. Mired in trendy youngster lingo, Saii’s tale accurately depicts girls’ power plays and the alienation that can result from simply owning jeans without a designer label. Fashion, gossip, popularity and shopping define these characters, and any threat of competition is cause for war. Vanessa’s parents rarely make appearances, except for a poignant scene when Vanessa’s mother engages her daughter in a heart-to-heart about her selfish behavior. It’s a relief to finally hear the mother speak and lead the story to an ending marked with humor and depth. Saii’s literary chops are inconsistently displayed and improve toward the conclusion. Although the average middle school girl may not wear Jimmy Choos or form private elitist groups, young readers might find themselves curious about these affluent trendsetters. At least Vanessa learns her lesson, which raises the novel a notch above teenybopper fluff.
A swift fable about navigating the perils of middle school.Pub Date: March 1, 2013
ISBN: 9781937675080
Page Count: 155
Publisher: Lekha Publishers
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An intriguing, if not always emotionally engaging, story of a serious teen problem.
Somers’ debut young-adult novel follows a teenage boy from sickness to tenuous health as he battles an eating disorder and the problems that helped create it.
Nathan is a typical teen with typical problems, including an unhappy family life and romantic disappointment, but he’s got an unhealthy “solution” for dealing with them: starving and purging himself. His descent into bulimia and anorexia occurs quite quickly; it starts with Nathan taking short bike rides to get away from his domineering father and alcoholic mother, and soon he’s inducing vomiting; not long afterward, he’s admitted to an eating-disorder program, at which point the book seems to find its center. Nathan is the only boy in his unit, a fact that his status-obsessed parents find it hard to understand; in fact, as the book makes clear, boys make up 10 percent of those who suffer from eating disorders. Somers’ novel never falls into “after-school special” territory, but it has a clear message. Nathan is depicted as a smart, cynical teenager, but his trials are sometimes more informative than heart-wrenching. The short chapters, complete with bad teenage poetry, keep the story moving, and Nathan’s dad, mom and nurse all get at least one chance to tell their side of the story. But although these multiple points of view are interesting, they may distract readers from Nathan’s personal trials. Also, the novel sometimes gets bogged down in eating-disorder program protocol; for example, a plan to interrupt Nathan’s family therapy takes two pages of emails, rather than a line or two of dialogue.
An intriguing, if not always emotionally engaging, story of a serious teen problem.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2012
ISBN: 978-0988367203
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Rundy Hill Press LLC
Review Posted Online: April 30, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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