This first in a planned series borrows characters from history, legend and mythology, but is set in modern time. The juxtaposition of our reality with magic and myth is riveting if one is willing to overlook one tiny glitch in the design. History’s greatest alchemist, Nicholas Flamel, has been guardian of a magical book, The Codex, for eons. The Codex contains the secret of eternal youth and keeps the ancient, dark “Elder Race” from world dominion; representing the Elders is a devious human, Dee. Caught in the middle of the age-old struggle are teen twins Sophie and Josh. They are accidental participants in Dee’s attempt to steal the Codex and destroy Flamel and his wife (but if they have been mixing this formula for eons, why do they need the recipe?) It gradually becomes clear, though, that Sophie and Josh hold potentially great powers and play an essential role in fulfilling a prophecy foretold in the Codex. The lines between good and evil blur when Sophie’s magical powers are awakened, but Josh’s are not. The story moves breathlessly fast, with riotous confrontations featuring beasts, Egyptian gods, witches and the walking dead. By the last page of this exhilarating journey, it’s delightfully clear that the ending is merely the beginning. (Fiction. 11-15)
Pub Date: May 22, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-385-73357-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2007
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Han’s leisurely paced, somewhat somber narrative revisits several beach-house summers in flashback through the eyes of now 15-year-old Isabel, known to all as Belly. Belly measures her growing self by these summers and by her lifelong relationship with the older boys, her brother and her mother’s best friend’s two sons. Belly’s dawning awareness of her sexuality and that of the boys is a strong theme, as is the sense of summer as a separate and reflective time and place: Readers get glimpses of kisses on the beach, her best friend’s flirtations during one summer’s visit, a first date. In the background the two mothers renew their friendship each year, and Lauren, Belly’s mother, provides support for her friend—if not, unfortunately, for the children—in Susannah’s losing battle with breast cancer. Besides the mostly off-stage issue of a parent’s severe illness there’s not much here to challenge most readers—driving, beer-drinking, divorce, a moment of surprise at the mothers smoking medicinal pot together. The wish-fulfilling title and sun-washed, catalog-beautiful teens on the cover will be enticing for girls looking for a diversion. (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: May 5, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4169-6823-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2009
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES
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A century before the events of Clare’s Mortal Instruments trilogy, another everyday heroine gets entangled with demon-slaying Shadowhunters. Sixteen-year-old orphaned Tessa comes to London to join her brother but is imprisoned by the grotesque Dark Sisters. The sisters train the unwilling Tessa in previously unknown shapeshifter abilities, preparing her to be a pawn in some diabolical plan. A timely rescue brings Tessa to the Institute, where a group of misfit Shadowhunters struggles to fight evil. Though details differ, the general flavor of Tessa’s new family will be enjoyably familiar to the earlier trilogy’s fans; the most important is Tessa’s rescuer Will, the gorgeous, sharp-tongued teenager with a mysterious past and a smile like “Lucifer might have smiled, moments before he fell from Heaven.” The lush, melodramatic urban fantasy setting of the Shadowhunter world morphs seamlessly into a steampunk Victorian past, and this new series provides the setup for what will surely be a climactic battle against hordes of demonically powered brass clockworks. The tale drags in places, but this crowdpleaser’s tension-filled conclusion ratchets toward a new set of mysteries. (Steampunk. 13-15)
Pub Date: Aug. 31, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4169-7586-1
Page Count: 496
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2010
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