A nuanced and grand fantasy-series finale.
This final book in a middle-grade fantasy trilogy sees a young teen and her friends protect her twin siblings while trying to save her father's soul.
In her previous adventure, 13-year-old Makenna Grace Gold defeated a seven-headed Red Dragon in China. She’s the Virago, a “Protector of Protectors” who shares a heroic lineage with Joan of Arc. However, a Souler has taken her father Michael’s soul to the Under Realms. It’s the work of Sir Malvado Seaton—the Dark One—who wants to keep Makenna’s infant siblings, Noah and Emi, from spreading a sense of hope around the world. Marigold Frith, the fairy Prelate, sends Makenna’s classmates Sam Taylor and Stephen Levine down to the Under Realms to retrieve Michael’s soul. Fairies Bree and Dee Delphine stand in as magical doppelgängers of Sam and Stephen on Earth while they’re away. And to keep Makenna’s mom, Misty, from worrying about her husband, the fairies secretly turn Fluffy, the Virago’s loyal worm, into Michael’s double as the Gold family visits China. The heroes must be ready for anything as Seaton flies in his private jet to Shanghai; his wicked, two-tailed cat, Savannah, arrives early and tries to attack the twins in their room at the Pudong Shangri-La Hotel. Meanwhile, the real Sam and Stephen infiltrate the underworld after giving DuGaiman, a half-troll bouncer, the runaround. Thanks to Sam’s knowledge of a particular video game, they manage to track the Souler through hell’s numerous levels. The danger for Makenna increases when Ms. Creante, an Alghanii Demonesse, heals from her last battle and reenters the fray.
In Bialys’ third series installment, the author performs a narrative victory lap, securing his trilogy a permanent place on his readers’ shelves. The tale expands the cast but maintains an excellent pace and a perfect balance between comedy and drama. Self-doubt torments the principal characters as much as any vampire cat might; indeed, Ms. Creante reminds Makenna, “you have yet to win a battle all on your own.” Later, in the Under Realms, a being named Orsin feeds Stephen from the tree of knowledge, and the boy experiences a vision in which Sam and Makenna get married as adults. Stephen and Sam nearly have a falling out over this possible future, and Bialys offers a potent illustration of young love. Seaton eventually tempts Makenna with a vision of herself as the most popular, graceful student at school (even the obnoxious Heather Stern worships her); the vision could be reality—if only she’ll give up the twins. Fluffy, in the guise of Michael, provides comedic relief as he struggles with being human. Bialys also offers plenty of quick jokes for adult fans, as when Marigold threatens to withhold DuGaiman’s tickets to a Celine Dion show. Such consistently entertaining details keep the story fresh and buoyant despite the darker themes. The sparkling prose never bogs down, and it’s a joy to meet creations with clever names, such as Ms. Judged. In the end, Virago’s adventure ably delivers a fine message of selflessness.
A nuanced and grand fantasy-series finale.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 330
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Some might guess at the baffling, heart-pounding conclusion, but when all the sidewalk characters from Miranda’s Manhattan...
When Miranda’s best friend Sal gets punched by a strange kid, he abruptly stops speaking to her; then oddly prescient letters start arriving.
They ask for her help, saying, “I'm coming to save your friend's life, and my own.” Readers will immediately connect with Miranda’s fluid first-person narration, a mix of Manhattan street smarts and pre-teen innocence. She addresses the letter writer and recounts the weird events of her sixth-grade year, hoping to make sense of the crumpled notes. Miranda’s crystalline picture of her urban landscape will resonate with city teens and intrigue suburban kids. As the letters keep coming, Miranda clings to her favorite book, A Wrinkle in Time, and discusses time travel with Marcus, the nice, nerdy boy who punched Sal. Keen readers will notice Stead toying with time from the start, as Miranda writes in the present about past events that will determine her future.
Some might guess at the baffling, heart-pounding conclusion, but when all the sidewalk characters from Miranda’s Manhattan world converge amid mind-blowing revelations and cunning details, teen readers will circle back to the beginning and say, “Wow...cool.” (Fiction. 12 & up)Pub Date: July 14, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-385-73742-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Wendy Lamb/Random
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sensitive subject matter that could have benefited from a subtler, more sober touch.
A Jewish girl joins up with Polish resistance groups to fight for her people against the evils of the Holocaust.
Chaya Lindner is forcibly separated from her family when they are consigned to the Jewish ghetto in Krakow. The 16-year-old is taken in by the leaders of Akiva, a fledgling Jewish resistance group that offers her the opportunity to become a courier, using her fair coloring to pass for Polish and sneak into ghettos to smuggle in supplies and information. Chaya’s missions quickly become more dangerous, taking her on a perilous journey from a disastrous mission in Krakow to the ghastly ghetto of Lodz and eventually to Warsaw to aid the Jews there in their gathering uprising inside the walls of the ghetto. Through it all, she is partnered with a secretive young girl whom she is reluctant to trust. The trajectory of the narrative skews toward the sensational, highlighting moments of resistance via cinematic action sequences but not pausing to linger on the emotional toll of the Holocaust’s atrocities. Younger readers without sufficient historical knowledge may not appreciate the gravity of the events depicted. The principal characters lack depth, and their actions and the situations they find themselves in often require too much suspension of disbelief to pass for realism.
Sensitive subject matter that could have benefited from a subtler, more sober touch. (afterword) (Historical fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-14847-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2018
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