From acclaimed novelist Mary Wesley (Haphazard House, 1993) comes this smug, obnoxious YA novel set in the contemporary English countryside. Kate is given a bullfinch by her big sister Angela; one day, Kate learns that the pet—called Mr. Bull—and all the other animals she comes in contact with are actually able to talk. But rather than maximizing the marvelous juxtaposition between the well-observed realism with which Kate's life is described and the magical possibilities offered by a world in which all the animals, domesticated and feral, speak a perfectly comprehensible and even witty English, Wesley just glosses over this marvel to present a plodding, quasi-morality play about animal rights. The plot—which involves getting all the animals to warn other species about upcoming hunts and so forth—is muddled to the point of utter tedium. Eventually Kate and Angela's parents and various adult members of the community are drawn into the struggle, as are a pair of neighboring children, Andrew and James. But none of the characters comes to life; most interesting is Mr. Bull, who is unfortunately confined to saying and doing very little. Despite its delicious premise, Speaking Terms is a crashing bore. Readers will turn away long before the end, which is confusing and wholly without dramatic import. (Fiction. 12+)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-87951-524-4
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Overlook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1994
PERSPECTIVES
Congolese-American Sophie makes a harrowing trek through a war-torn jungle to protect a young bonobo.
On her way to spend the summer at the bonobo sanctuary her mother runs, 14-year-old Sophie rescues a sickly baby bonobo from a trafficker. Though her Congolese mother is not pleased Sophie paid for the ape, she is proud that Sophie works to bond with Otto, the baby. A week before Sophie's to return home to her father in Miami, her mother must take advantage
of a charter flight to relocate some apes, and she leaves Sophie with Otto and the sanctuary workers. War breaks out, and after missing a U.N. flight out, Sophie must hide herself and Otto from violent militants and starving villagers. Unable to take Otto out of the country, she decides finding her mother hundreds of miles to the north is her only choice. Schrefer jumps from his usual teen suspense to craft this well-researched tale of jungle survival set during a fictional conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Realistic characters (ape and human) deal with disturbing situations described in graphic, but never gratuitous detail. The lessons Sophie learns about her childhood home, love and what it means to be endangered will resonate with readers.
Even if some hairbreadth escapes test credulity, this is a great next read for fans of our nearest ape cousins or survival adventure. (map, author's note, author Q&A) (Adventure. 12-16)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-16576-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 2, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A mess, but at least it’s a hot one.
The action moves from phoenix races to all-out war in this sequel to Ashlords (2020).
The novel opens with victorious Ashlord Pippa leading an army against her previous foes in the Races: Imelda, a Dividian, and Adrian, a Longhand. The narrative shifts from one character to another as all three discover links to the underworld where the seven Ashlord gods live with their slaves, and they begin to see the gods, not each other, as the enemy. The pace here is frenetic, the writing smooth and exciting. The worldbuilding continues to feel illogical and inconsistent in terms of technological development, and most of the time it’s hard, if not impossible, to follow the plot. The phoenix horses around which the first novel centered are incidental to this book, but readers who haven’t read the first entry will feel lost and have difficulty understanding the characters or setup. Halfway through, the confusion begins to matter less as the characters become more fully developed. If readers don’t worry about understanding it all, the action will be interesting enough to carry things along as the story rockets to a somewhat comprehensible happy ending. Although in the first book the Ashlords were described as dark-skinned and the Dividians and Longhands as light, that difference is downplayed in this entry.
A mess, but at least it’s a hot one. (dramatis personae) (Fantasy. 12-18)Pub Date: Feb. 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-11921-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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