For all its dystopian setting, this satisfying trilogy closer is full of pluck
The postdiluvian Flooded Earth trilogy concludes as it began, with high-seas derring-do.
Ever since Will and Annalie’s father, Spinner, vanished at the onset of The Flooded Earth (2018), they’ve been searching for him along with their friends Essie and Pod (and of course Graham, their cybernetically enhanced talking parrot. Their dystopian world, flooded not from climate change but due to the hubris of weather-controlling scientists, is ruled by the wicked Admiralty. Spinner was studying the work of the scientists whose research created the Flood, and the Admiralty will stop at nothing to capture him—because they want to use his research to create weapons. The children must fight not only the Admiralty, but the many dangers that dot their world’s coastlines and oceans, beginning with a fight with pirates at the onset of this adventure. Along the way they rescue Pod’s young enslaved sister, cross the dangerous Outer Ocean, escape from deadly shadow whales and wild dogs, and repeatedly escape from the wicked Admiralty commander. And perhaps, they discover, not everyone in the Admiralty is wicked; once, “they were a force for good in the world.” If only the good members of the Admiralty can be convinced to see the horrors of the refugee camps, perhaps things can change. Race is unspecified, though there is some indication of whiteness among the Admiralty and the wealthy.
For all its dystopian setting, this satisfying trilogy closer is full of pluck . (Science fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-77278-099-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Pajama Press
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Three episodes—two of which were originally published in English separately in 2003—feature the diminutive, grey-skinned bloodsucker, his human friend Michael and a haunted-houseful of spectacularly lurid ghouls and creepies. In the first, lonely Little Vampire meets Michael after going to his school at night, sitting at his desk and doing his homework. In the second Michael receives kung fu lessons from an eldritch instructor in hopes of ridding himself of a bully. The third, titled “The Canine Defenders Club,” has the two buddies, with help from Little Vampire’s gruff, scarlet pooch Phantomato, breaking into a cosmetics-testing laboratory to rescue three captive dogs. All three tales progress in small, brightly colored panels packed with brisk action, sight gags and dialogue in miniscule type. Fans of Emmanuel Guibert’s Sardine in Outer Space series, which is illustrated by Sfar, will find his solo outings just as appealingly off-the-wall. Libraries that bought the first two chapters (which were issued by a different publisher) will need this as a value-added replacement. (Graphic novel. 9-11)
Pub Date: May 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59643-233-8
Page Count: 92
Publisher: First Second/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A quick read, with plenty of rococo weapons, characters and creatures (notably reindeer).
Streaks of preciousness mar, or at least mark, an “origins” tale framed as a monumental struggle between the King of Nightmares and a Cossack bandit plainly destined for a later career bringing gifts to children on Christmas Eve.
Escaping 1,000 years of captivity, Pitch, the Nightmare King, has sent hordes of Fearlings out to darken the dreams of children worldwide and attacked the happy Siberian town of Santoff Claussen. Orchestrated by Tsar Lunar, the Man in the Moon, a small company sets out to gather the first of five ancient relics that will help defeat Pitch. The band is made up of kindly old wizard Ombric Shalazar (last survivor of Atlantis and inventor of “time, gravity, and bouncing balls!”); his ward, the intrepid young orphan Katherine; a mysterious elfin creature; and, last but not least, Nicholas St. North—an exuberant former bandit chieftain turned inventor who is “no longer a thief of treasures but a buccaneer of fun” thanks to Ombric's tutelage in magic and science. With help from an army of yetis led by the Lunar Lamas (who are quaintly described as “inscrutable” and also look identical in the accompanying illustration), Pitch is fended off in a great battle in the Himalayas, the relic is recovered and it's off to further episodes. Many further episodes, as this is just the opening novel in an ambitious multimedia project dubbed “The Guardians of Childhood.” (The Man in the Moon, 2011, is the companion opening picture book in the project.)
A quick read, with plenty of rococo weapons, characters and creatures (notably reindeer). (Fantasy. 9-11)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4424-3048-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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