Just the ticket for readers who like hearty doses of suspenseful adventure.
Seven friends head out to the backcountry to do some skiing and hiking. How many are going to make it home?
Matt Ruban should have been heading to Florida, but instead he's with his best friend, Tony, in the Rockies. A ski trip with new friends seems like it will take his mind off his fight with his dad. It helps that some of those new friends are cute girls. One of those cute girls, Leah, even seems to like him. The ski trip starts well enough, even if Matt and Tony do discover they're out of shape, but when an avalanche interrupts their path, they find themselves fighting for survival in unforgiving territory. The avalanche is only the beginning of a chain of disasters that threaten their lives and makes them wish they'd never strapped on a pair of skies. Braun (Stranded, 2015) offers a compelling, fast-paced plot with plenty of action. In fact, there's almost too much action—the sheer number of mishaps during a four-day period begins to feel convenient instead of natural. Interesting back stories help the characters (all evidently white) maintain authenticity, and a sense of suspense makes the pages fly by. Braun is talented at describing suspenseful threats, such as the steady approach of a mountain lion that realizes that injury makes a human easy prey.
Just the ticket for readers who like hearty doses of suspenseful adventure. (Adventure. 12-15)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3822-3
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2016
A revolution in Istanbul behind them, Alek and Deryn travel wherever the living airship Leviathan is ordered by the British...
The Leviathan trilogy-ender delivers on the promise of the series: thrilling airship battles, world travel, ginormous Tesla coils and a few daring smooches.
A revolution in Istanbul behind them, Alek and Deryn travel wherever the living airship Leviathan is ordered by the British Empire. Deryn knows Alek’s secret—that he is heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire—but Alek doesn't know that Deryn is truly a girl. They don't have much time to spare for their own personal soap opera as they freewheel around war-torn continents, from Siberia to Japan to the United States to Mexico. Alek and Deryn escape ravenous fighting bears tall as houses, ride atop a gale-tossed airship and star in motion pictures. The whole is peppered with sagacious statements from the tragically underused Perspicacious Lorises, faux-simple creatures always ready to spout off a wise word or three. This entry is relatively light on the steam-powered clankers and genetically engineered beasties that drove the first two volumes of the trilogy, replacing them with repeated airborne drama. Still, any lost steampunky science is compensated for by nonstop action; it's hard to mind theatrical revelations when they occur in a made-for-CGI storm. Besides, in the midst of all that action Alek learns the art of navigation and how to measure the weight of water; how cool is that?Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4169-7177-1
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
The satire isn’t all that’s biting in this darkly comedic sequel to The Reformed Vampire Support Group (2009). Archetypically sullen and uncommunicative teen Toby is thrown for a loop after waking up the morning after a full moon naked in a nearby wildlife park. He finds himself caught between the smothering attentions of his annoyingly smart adoptive mother and the bizarre but enticing warning delivered by a scarred, dangerous looking stranger named Reuben that he’s a werewolf. Barely has Toby begun to take that idea seriously than he’s kidnapped by promoters of international werewolf death matches and taken to an arena in the remote outback. Rescuers appear quickly; as it turns out, werewolves aren’t all that uncommon and even have organized self-help groups. Nor are they the only supernatural creatures around, as Toby discovers when Reuben shows up with a band of startlingly pale, sickly but uncommonly resilient helpers who display a sharp aversion to daylight. Jinks has a few other surprises in store too, but (in possibly deliberate imitation of a certain wildly popular penumbral series) she challenges readers first to slog through hundreds of pages of snarling dialogue, repetitive ruminations and aimless plotting. Not to mention unresolved issues and an unwieldy supporting cast, both of which are likely to spill over into further sequels. By the end it’s hilarious, but many teens may struggle to get that far. (Satiric fantasy. 12-15)
Pub Date: April 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-15-206615-4
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2011
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