While at times unbalanced, this YA fantasy is fresh and fast-paced; a promising start to the trilogy.
In Ragsdale’s debut, the first in a planned YA fantasy trilogy, a young girl who has lost everything must save an entire race on an alien planet.
Leyla Cassidy’s world shatters when a car accident kills her parents and leaves her lost in the forest with extensive injuries. She’s barely alive when rescuers find her and take her to the hospital. Leyla soon remembers a voice that came to her in the woods, willing her to live and urging her to save a distant people. With nothing left for her on Earth, she decides to be transported to an alien world. Once there, she learns that she has been chosen to protect an entire race by becoming their memory keeper. An honor given solely to their own kind, the decision to choose a human does not come without opposition. Even when Leyla becomes an Uluran—albeit with some complications—not everyone thinks that she’s the right choice. Driven by a compelling narrative with multifaceted characters, the novel satisfies on many levels. Fantasy lovers will appreciate a world with talking animals, supernatural events and mystical creatures. The tale does not rely on genre gimmicks. Instead, it’s fueled by the emotional narrative of a young girl dealing with tragedy and trying to mature into a wise leader. Leyla is a typical teenager, headstrong and taciturn, but her compassionate nature and integrity make her sympathetic. Her surrounding cast, which includes a telepathic squirrel and a bird, is well-drawn and adds depth. This large ensemble, however, sometimes overwhelms. The many characters and plot developments can be hard to follow, especially for the intended YA audience. Some minor plot elements, e.g., a scene where Leyla packs for her journey, are overly detailed, while other more significant events, like an epic climactic battle, feel underdeveloped.
While at times unbalanced, this YA fantasy is fresh and fast-paced; a promising start to the trilogy.Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-1481161756
Page Count: 412
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 2, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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BOOK TO SCREEN
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre.
Ice princess Lina must navigate family and school in this early chapter read.
The family picnic is today. This is not a typical gathering, since Lina’s maternal relatives are a royal family of Windtamers who have power over the weather and live in castles floating on clouds. Lina herself is mixed race, with black hair and a tan complexion like her Asian-presenting mother’s; her Groundling father appears to be a white human. While making a grand entrance at the castle of her grandfather, the North Wind, she fails to successfully ride a gust of wind and crashes in front of her entire family. This prompts her stern grandfather to ask that Lina move in with him so he can teach her to control her powers. Desperate to avoid this, Lina and her friend Claudia, who is black, get Lina accepted at the Hilltop Science and Arts Academy. Lina’s parents allow her to go as long as she does lessons with grandpa on Saturdays. However, fitting in at a Groundling school is rough, especially when your powers start freak winter storms! With the story unfurling in diary format, bright-pink–highlighted grayscale illustrations help move the plot along. There are slight gaps in the storytelling and the pacing is occasionally uneven, but Lina is full of spunk and promotes self-acceptance.
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-35393-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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