A whimsical food concept brought vividly to life.
A boy from a society where only sweets are eaten journeys to far-off lands of vegetable and fruit consumption in this illustrated middle-grade fantasy.
Ten-year-old Henry lives in Choco-Locoville, a town in Sugarland. Like all the inhabitants of Sugarland, Henry is overweight. Since his father’s death (brought on by obesity), Henry has tried to diet, but with only sweet things to eat, he finds it impossible. Henry is also lonely. His mother works long hours overseeing the family’s chocolate factory, and Henry’s only friend is his fat cat, Tiger. Disaster strikes one day when Sugarland’s chocolate clouds are stolen. These are essential for the running of the chocolate factory, and, seeing an opportunity to recapture his mom’s attention, Henry resolves to bring them back. Along with Tiger, Henry strikes out for the Monster Mountains and, beyond these, the mythical lands of Veggington, Fruitopolis, and Barebone Island, which features dairy products. In Veggington, Henry eats vegetables for the first time and makes a new friend—a carrot girl named Carrotina, who joins him on his quest. Henry’s journey helps him to lose weight, but even with Carrotina’s help, will he be able to find the missing chocolate clouds and break down the national boundaries between food groups? Remus writes in the third person, past tense, from Henry’s point of view. The prose is a simple mix of narrative, dialogue, and description, enhanced throughout by the author’s partial and full-page illustrations. These pictures—textured black-and-white sketches of considerable intricacy—contribute greatly to Remus’ worldbuilding and to the depictions of Henry, Carrotina, Tiger, and others. Henry is a likable protagonist, conscious of his own shortcomings but determined to overcome them. Carrotina is a particularly memorable character. She is kind and companionable but also acutely aware of being a sentient, anthropomorphized vegetable. Her perspective on life encapsulates the magical suspension of disbelief that underpins the four food-based lands of Foodtopia. The story itself is sweet and nonthreatening, although Henry’s quest is not without peril. While adult readers may find the plot predictable, there are surprises on a page-by-page level and wonder aplenty for the target audience. The moral, likewise, is overt but not intrusive. Younger readers will be thoroughly entertained.
A whimsical food concept brought vividly to life.Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-3-949488-01-6
Page Count: 242
Publisher: Misty Moon Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.
A young Navarrian woman faces even greater challenges in her second year at dragon-riding school.
Violet Sorrengail did all the normal things one would do as a first-year student at Basgiath War College: made new friends, fell in love, and survived multiple assassination attempts. She was also the first rider to ever bond with two dragons: Tairn, a powerful black dragon with a distinguished battle history, and Andarna, a baby dragon too young to carry a rider. At the end of Fourth Wing (2023), Violet and her lover, Xaden Riorson, discovered that Navarre is under attack from wyvern, evil two-legged dragons, and venin, soulless monsters that harvest energy from the ground. Navarrians had always been told that these were monsters of legend and myth, not real creatures dangerously close to breaking through Navarre’s wards and attacking civilian populations. In this overly long sequel, Violet, Xaden, and their dragons are determined to find a way to protect Navarre, despite the fact that the army and government hid the truth about these creatures. Due to the machinations of several traitorous instructors at Basgiath, Xaden and Violet are separated for most of the book—he’s stationed at a distant outpost, leaving her to handle the treacherous, cutthroat world of the war college on her own. Violet is repeatedly threatened by her new vice commandant, a brutal man who wants to silence her. Although Violet and her dragons continue to model extreme bravery, the novel feels repetitive and more than a little sloppy, leaving obvious questions about the world unanswered. The book is full of action and just as full of plot holes, including scenes that are illogical or disconnected from the main narrative. Secondary characters are ignored until a scene requires them to assist Violet or to be killed in the endless violence that plagues their school.
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374172
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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