Action, adventure, fantasy, humor and a glimpse of a potential budding romance are all here, making this a great...
As in the previous titles (The Call, 2010, and The Trap, 2011), this third installment in the Magnificent 12 series speeds forward with the help of over-the-top action sequences and rapid, clever dialogue.
This episode opens with Mack about to be catapulted and most likely smashed into a wall near Loch Ness, when at the last minute he is saved by French goth-girl Sylvie, who is the half sibling of evil Valin, an ally to the dark forces supporting the rise of the Pale Queen—and both Mack and Sylvie happen to be members of the Magnificent 12, on a quest to obtain the second part of the vital key. And this is how the story progresses, like an urgent, never-ending run-on sentence. With many plot twists, comic diversions involving the Golem standing in for Mack back at home, timely introductions of new characters, explanations of Vargan spells, and just-in-time fantastical feats that save lives and ultimately move the Eiffel Tower from one side of the Seine to the other, readers are in for a most entertaining if often hard-to-fathom tale. Grant’s series flows like a much-hyped Hollywood summer blockbuster: The special effects are impressive, but readers must instantly agree to suspend disbelief. A website encourages fans to create their own avatars, review characters and settings and keep updated on the latest news about the series.
Action, adventure, fantasy, humor and a glimpse of a potential budding romance are all here, making this a great end-of-summer read. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-183370-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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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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