A pleasing adventure.
George and his neighbor, Ada, daughter of the poet Lord Byron, embark on a wild adventure involving flying machines, pirates, and stolen artifacts.
George, third Lord of Devonshire, is a cautious boy, convinced that he lives under a curse in his house at No. 8 Dorset Square. Both his reprobate father and adored grandfather died when George turned 10. George and a remaining family servant, Frobisher, live by selling off the furnishings in the house. When a thief attempting to take George’s grandfather’s legacy, a map to the legendary Star of Victory, a “stone that assured its owner of success in battle,” is thwarted by an ingenious mechanical bird, George follows the bird to No. 5, where he discovers that the bird’s inventor is Ada, a clever, fearless, and strong-minded girl. When Ada launches a mission to find the Star of Victory, artistic Oscar, who longs to find his pirate captain father, and Ruthie, a rescued baby orangutan, stow away on her flying machine. The journey takes the group to Lake Geneva and the prison of Chillon, then on to Venice and an encounter with Charles Darwin. Oscar, whose mother was Tahitian, is brown-skinned, while all the other characters are white. The breathless plot is jam-packed with roguish thieves, tantalizing clues, and mild intrigue, and the narrative is filled with wry humor and kindness as George gradually gives up his self-centered sense of doom. An author’s note provides some factual information about Ada Byron Lovelace.
A pleasing adventure. (Fantasy/steampunk. 9-12)Pub Date: May 8, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-47149-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
An enticing taste of a rich historical world.
A servant boy attempts to win his freedom by repeatedly saving his master as they travel the Silk Road.
At roughly age 12, Omar has led a hard life, having lost both his parents and the woman who cared for him after their deaths and now being chased away by the monks who once housed him for asking too many questions. For the price of six bolts of silk, they hand him off to Samir, a fellow Sogdian who calls himself the Seller of Dreams. Renamed Monkey, he is tasked with assisting Samir in trading. As the two head west with a large caravan across the Taklamakan Desert toward present-day Tajikistan, Monkey learns Samir’s business tricks, though he often disapproves. He also meets blacksmith’s assistant Mara, the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen. Soon, though, it becomes clear that Samir faces more problems than just making the next deal: He has wronged more than one person along the road, and assassins are after him. What follows is Monkey’s account of Samir’s brushes with death—and how Monkey himself may have contributed to Samir’s eventual demise. Filled with the multicultural hustle and bustle of the Silk Road, enlivened by the unpredictable nature of unreliable storytellers, and adorned with whimsical, colorful illustrations, this is a strange, wondrous, and creative tale. Can family be found along the Silk Road, or will everyone ultimately betray you?
An enticing taste of a rich historical world. (author’s note, bibliography) (Adventure. 9-12)Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-64614-303-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Levine Querido
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Intriguing but disappointingly derivative; here’s hoping future volumes find a groove.
In this graphic-novel series opener, a girl discovers her father is a Greek god—sound familiar?
When her mother gets the opportunity of a lifetime, Karen must stay with her estranged father, Zed, who lives on Mount Olympus. Upon her arrival, she learns that her father is obviously both affluent and influential, living in a palatial home and serving as both the mayor of the town and dean of her school. At Mt. Olympus Junior High, Karen quickly befriends Dita, Athena, and siblings Apollo and Artemis. When a classmate is turned to stone in the school library and Karen falls under suspicion, she and her new friends must find the culprit. Visually, Moon’s bright and expressive art propels Cooke and Fitzpatrick’s narrative, with tidy stylization and an alluring full-color palette. Karen, however, may be a polarizing character: She can be bratty at times and infuriatingly slow at others. At one point, her friends must practically spoon-feed her the concept that they are gods and goddesses—that their names are taken directly from the pantheon and that they live on Mount Olympus don’t seem to clue her in. Despite the high-interest format, this doesn’t bring enough novelty to set it apart from Percy Jackson. Nearly all the characters present White with the exceptions of Dita, who has a slightly darker skin tone, and assorted unnamed background characters.
Intriguing but disappointingly derivative; here’s hoping future volumes find a groove. (mythology notes, bibliography) (Graphic fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-358-29951-6
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Etch/HMH
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2020
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