Booth draws heavily on old alchemical texts, herb lore, and lurid accounts of witchly deeds for this chiller, but neglects to link it all with a coherent story. Shortly after moving into a restored 15th-century home, twins Pip and Tim meet Sebastian, a young Christian alchemist from the distant past who can travel down the centuries, change shape, and perform other eldritch acts. He announces that Pierre de Loudéac, a colleague gone bad, is also still around, and on the verge of creating a homunculus for unspecified mischief. For never-explained reasons, de Loudéac zeroes in on Pip, snatching bits of blood, hair, and skin while visiting gory apparitions upon both children whenever the plot needs goosing, and putting in occasional personal appearances—in various guises, but ever recognizable by his odor of “sweat, wine, and cheesy feet.” Not even the occasional flayed cat, severed human leg, or whirl of inter-dimensional travel compensates for the tale’s logical gaps and clumsy contrivances; some of the former, at least, may be bridged in the upcoming sequel, but even optimistic readers may be hard-put to believe it. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-316-15575-6
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2004
Low in physical violence, while being rich in moral and ethical issues, as well as in appealingly complex characters and...
Pub Date: March 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-316-05777-0
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Megan Tingley/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Four fifth-graders are recruited by a scheming magician in this hefty bonbon from the author of the Fablehaven tales. At first, Nate, Summer, Trevor and Pigeon think they have it good. Having asked them to help her recover a hidden treasure that (she says) belongs to her, Belinda White, friendly proprietor of a sweets shop that has just opened in their small town, provides some uncommon candies—like Moon Rocks, that give them the ability to jump like grasshoppers, and literally electrifying Shock Bits. When she begins asking them to commit certain burglaries, though, their exhilaration turns to unease, and rightly so; Mrs. White is actually after a draft from the Fountain of Youth that will make her the world’s most powerful magician. And, as it turns out, she isn’t the only magician who’s come to town—not even the only one whose magic is tied to sweets. Filling out the supporting cast with the requisite trio of bullies, plus magical minions of various (and sometimes gross) abilities, Mull trots his twist-laden plot forward to a well set-up climax. Leaving the door open an inch for sequels, he dishes up a crowd-pleaser as delicious—if not so weird—as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory . (Fantasy. 10-13)
Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-59038-783-2
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2007
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