A novelist for adults tries for a younger audience with a condescending, thinly disguised pastiche of classic and recent fantasies. Two children, doughty Abby and Spike, an amnesiac foundling who (of course) turns out to be a prince, help rescue their captive parents, plus a group of kidnapped children who are being forced to mind magic Dust (“Snow Dust”) from a subterranean Antarctic land. Along the way, the pair meet Captain Starlight, the Ancient Mariner himself, with his oversized albatross companion Benbow, an irascible librarian with a staff of elves, monsters, and ancient machines that respond only to the good of heart, and a positive array of witches. There’s bluff Sea Witches; pompous but well-meaning Light Witches; and fetid, bat-cloaked Night Witches plotting to exterminate their rivals with a mixture of Fairy—er, Snow Dust and toxic sludge. The author leaves no doubt about whom to hiss and whom to root for as, along the way, the good guys Save A Whale and participate in a performance of Peter Pan in which a traitor is unmasked by his refusal to clap for Tinker Bell. Attempts to inject wonder, surprise, and humor into the tale fall as flat as the climactic battle, in which the chief bad guy stands by wringing his hands as Abby heals an immense serpent with Kindness, then vanishes (sequels, anyone?), leaving his evil cohorts to blow up at the least whiff of Snow Dust. Wyatt supplies pen-and-ink sprays of twinkling stars, and Jules Verne–like spot illustrations, some of which recur. There’s not much here for fans of J.M. Barrie, Joan Aiken, Pullman’s His Dark Materials, and the like beyond a sense of déjà vu. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-439-29659-5
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Chicken House/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The wild magical menace barely fended off in Magic Thief: Lost (2009) is headed for the town of Wellmet, and only the guttersnipe-turned–wizard’s apprentice Connwaer and his gruff master, Nevery Flinglas, realize the danger. Having sacrificed his “locus magicalicus,” Conn’s first priority is finding a replacement—meaning concocting a finding spell that (as usual) results in spectacularly destructive pyrotechnics and the sudden necessity of a long and dangerous journey. Narrator Conn continues to be one of the most deliciously infuriating protagonists ever, so focused on saving his beloved city that he ignores such hazards as the sentence of exile its annoyed leaders impose on him and more distracted than upset when a supposedly extinct dragon snatches him away. Once again Prineas dishes up a nimble plot laced with explosions and large-scale magic-working, enhanced by Caparo’s spot-art portraits, punctuated with brief letters or journal entries and capped with a section of capsule bios and recipes. The author brings the story to a strong close, too—but, good news, she has admitted in an interview to considering further sequels. (Fantasy. 11-13)
Pub Date: June 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-137593-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Review Posted Online: Jan. 23, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2010
Mebus (probably) concludes his tangled but inventive epic, cranking up the struggle among New York City’s supernatural residents to a climactic battle in Central Park. Even as the power-mad magician Willem Kieft is gathering an army of minor gods and murderous spirits on the pretext of wiping out the indigenous Munsees once and for all, young Rory and his indomitable little sister Bridget set out on a frantic, five-borough search for fragments of a certain diary that may hold the key to both their stricken mother’s life and Kieft’s defeat. Though a partial list of names at the front isn’t going to help readers keep track of the teeming cast, there’s plenty of action and humor (“God of Spies! That’s so me!” warbles flamingly idiotic bit player Nathan Hale) to compensate—plus spectacular magic, stunning revelations and encounters with such New York icons as Teddy Roosevelt and a subterranean alligator “easily the size of a tour bus.” The ultimate victory is credibly hard-won, and though the tale’s internal logic doesn’t bear close inspection, overall it’s turned out to be a grand adventure. (Fantasy. 11-13)
Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-525-42240-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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