Long on inventive details, if short on internal logic, this sweeping tale, set largely in an alternate world whose inhabitants ride oversized pigs and birds rather than horses, colorfully opens a (probable) new series from the author of Witch Trade (2001) and its sequels. Tim and his little dog Josh fall through a “starway” into the land of Tallis, where they join efforts to stymie an evil Great Duke’s takeover plot. Much traveling atop pigs and battle cockerels ensues, punctuated by encounters with a bad warlock, benign enchantresses called “chanters,” little people, gypsy-like Gurneys, clouds of deadly spores, immense flying trees, and more, until events wind up to a climactic duel. Molloy shoehorns in superfluous subplots, leaves such mysteries as how plants in Tallis could bear fruits but no flowers unexplained, and leans heavily on arbitrary magic and other contrivances to keep the plot moving. But move it does, as he takes his young adventurer through plenty of dangerous situations, gives him loyal companions of both sexes, saves some revelations for the end, and finally brings him safely home. For some readers, that may be enough. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: April 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-439-57740-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Chicken House/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Washed back nearly five-and-a-half centuries by a sudden tsunami in the usually placid Ocean of Time, pre-teen siblings Susan and Charles, first introduced in Drift House (2005), tackle a space/time storm (confusingly mislabeled a “time jetty”) that is leaving a trail of destruction stretching from the Twin Towers through Pompeii and Atlantis to ancient Babylon. Once again lacing his tale with inscrutable elements—including at least one (possibly more) strong-willed magical volume(s) and at least one (ditto) other-than-human time “Returner” who single-handedly fills out the cast with multiple appearances in various guises—Peck plunges the separated Susan and Charles into contrived encounters with Pre-Columbian residents of Greenland and North America, and then on to twin cataclysmic climaxes over modern Manhattan (for Susan) and beneath the Tower of Babel (for Charles), before a final happy reunion aboard their ship-like Quebec mansion. Floating thinly atop its opaque, anthropocentric metaphor (“The jetty is a manifestation of the eternal human desire to cheat time, to get to the end without going through the middle,” explains the Returner, with typical clarity), the sequel is as likely as its predecessor to leave readers at sea. (Fantasy. 11-13)
Pub Date: March 1, 2007
ISBN: 1-58234-859-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2007
Newly sighted Jacob discovers the world of Seers in this sequel to Truesight (2004). Exiled from Harmony, the all-blind community in which he was raised, Jacob treks through the wilderness until he finds Melville, the city of sighted people. There he is befriended by Xander, retired mercenary with a tragic history. Exploring Melville with Xander, Jacob finds his also-exiled friend Delaney, who has become an overnight sensation as a pianist. But the glory of Delaney’s stardom and the shine and polish of Melville conceal corruption and selfishness. Delaney needs rescuing from the same soulless corporation responsible for Xander’s solitary grief. Meanwhile, Jacob’s been having visions of a terrifying future. The overlay here between metaphorical and genuine blindness is so heavy-handed as to lead to occasional inappropriate linkages between the two. Luckily, it’s only blindness that Stahler handles ham-handedly, and this volume of Jacob’s trilogy focuses on non–vision-related themes. These newer mysteries compel; perhaps the trilogy’s conclusion will continue along this route. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-06-052288-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Eos/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2007
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
