Cadnum revisits the medieval setting of In a Dark Wood (1998) for this tale of a young squire’s experiences in the first crusade, but once again, his storytelling lacks conviction. Having seen his master’s arm struck off at the order of the Sheriff of Nottingham, strapping apprentice Edmund is saved from the same fate by Nigel and Rannulf, two knights preparing to follow King Richard to the Holy Land. It’s a long, grubby journey, from London to Venice, thence to the siege of Acre, and the subsequent battle of Arsuf, replete with mud, blood, filth, disease, violence, rough humor, moments of beauty, and even fugitive kindness. Edmund views his world, and his own acts, with a detachment that robs his narrative of immediacy, particularly at climactic moments. In the end, he gets a glimpse of Jerusalem, then accompanies Nigel, whose arms have been crushed, back to England. Cadnum builds on a sturdy historical framework, and the naturalistic detail adds plenty of color, but few readers will be truly caught up in Edmund’s adventure. The author’s confessed bafflement over “caring, responsible” adults behaving with such brutality seeps into the story, making it emotionally inaccessible. (Fiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-670-88386-7
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
The format of this taut and moving drama forcefully regulates the pacing; breathless, edge-of-the-seat courtroom scenes...
In a riveting novel from Myers (At Her Majesty’s Request, 1999, etc.), a teenager who dreams of being a filmmaker writes the story of his trial for felony murder in the form of a movie script, with journal entries after each day’s action.
Steve is accused of being an accomplice in the robbery and murder of a drug store owner. As he goes through his trial, returning each night to a prison where most nights he can hear other inmates being beaten and raped, he reviews the events leading to this point in his life. Although Steve is eventually acquitted, Myers leaves it up to readers to decide for themselves on his protagonist’s guilt or innocence.
The format of this taut and moving drama forcefully regulates the pacing; breathless, edge-of-the-seat courtroom scenes written entirely in dialogue alternate with thoughtful, introspective journal entries that offer a sense of Steve’s terror and confusion, and that deftly demonstrate Myers’s point: the road from innocence to trouble is comprised of small, almost invisible steps, each involving an experience in which a “positive moral decision” was not made. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: May 31, 1999
ISBN: 0-06-028077-8
Page Count: 280
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1999
Paulsen recalls personal experiences that he incorporated into Hatchet (1987) and its three sequels, from savage attacks by moose and mosquitoes to watching helplessly as a heart-attack victim dies. As usual, his real adventures are every bit as vivid and hair-raising as those in his fiction, and he relates them with relish—discoursing on “The Fine Art of Wilderness Nutrition,” for instance: “Something that you would never consider eating, something completely repulsive and ugly and disgusting, something so gross it would make you vomit just looking at it, becomes absolutely delicious if you’re starving.” Specific examples follow, to prove that he knows whereof he writes. The author adds incidents from his Iditarod races, describes how he made, then learned to hunt with, bow and arrow, then closes with methods of cooking outdoors sans pots or pans. It’s a patchwork, but an entertaining one, and as likely to win him new fans as to answer questions from his old ones. (Autobiography. 10-13)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-385-32650-5
Page Count: 150
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2000
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