A slightly improved second entry in a clunky series.
The Dork Lord returns.
In this follow-up to 2020’s Confessions of a Dork Lord, Wick—or Azrael Bal Gorath the Wicked—remains a ne’er-do-well White tween desperate for his people’s approval. When a big gamble doesn’t pay off, Wick is thrown out of his own castle and banished to a far-off land as an exchange student. Wick does his best to make the most of things, chronicling his plan for vengeance in his journal along with his petty grievances, his loneliness, and his quest for friendship. The novel continues its predecessor’s stylization as a mashup of Dungeons & Dragons and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, but where the first entry erred by indulging its uneven pace, this sequel tightens things up. The weight of the worldbuilding is still a bit of a drag during the novel’s opening pages, but once everything is laid out readers will slip easily enough into this fantasy-shaded tale of the struggles of a snarky underdog. The course correction is admirable, though the novel is just as overlong as the series opener. A little bit of Wick and his world goes a long way, and readers will get far too much of him here. Wick’s unpleasant nature continues to be a bug rather than a feature, and so this entry clocks in as a mixed bag. Altés’ illustrations add an amusing touch.
A slightly improved second entry in a clunky series. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: May 3, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-32547-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Readers may not wish to leave this magical world
Van, who is hard of hearing and uses hearing aids, discovers the true mission of the City Collection Agency: to collect wayward wishes.
One summer in an unnamed North American city, Van spots a girl and a squirrel fishing for a coin that has just been tossed into a fountain by wisher. He soon learns that both girl and squirrel belong to a secret society of people and talking animals who collect and store wishes made as folks toss coins in fountains, extinguish birthday candles, break wishbones, and so forth. Turns out, when uncontained, wishes can come true, and their magic is often chaotic, unpredictable, and dangerous. Van is soon pulled into a power struggle when Mr. Falborg, a fan of Van’s opera-singer mother who is also aware of wishing magic, asks Van to find out just what the City Collection Agency has stored away. West states in her acknowledgements that she consulted with several deaf and hard-of-hearing students, and the descriptions of Van’s use of hearing aids, his struggles with background noise, and his ability to quickly rethink misheard speech based on context clues ring true. Although the plot gets a little bogged down in comings and goings and a few characters seem extraneous, West has constructed a fast-paced and engrossing tale of a boy wrestling with the consequences of power and responsibility. The book assumes a white default.
Readers may not wish to leave this magical world . (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-269169-9
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
This creepy, quirky debut trilogy opener—think H.P. Lovecraft crossed with John Bellairs—is dank, misty fun.
Not your average coastal getaway, Eerie-on-Sea is brimming with secrets, including its own monster.
In the dismal offseason, young Herbie Lemon, the Grand Nautilus Hotel’s cautious (he’s heard the legends) Lost-and-Founder, is on the job, keeping warm, when Violet Parma, abandoned at the hotel as an infant 12 years ago, arrives, searching for her lost parents and fleeing pursuit. Fearless and determined, she recruits Herbie into her schemes. He knows she isn’t telling him her whole story—but then, he isn’t telling her (or readers) his, either. When a clue leads them to the Eerie Book Dispensary, a mechanical mermonkey steers Violet to a book about the malamander, an aquatic monster that lays a magical egg at Midwinter, then takes it back. Other egg seekers include a local author; the imperious hotel owner, whose grandfather once possessed it; the ghostly Boat Hook Man; and Violet’s parents. (Her father, the only character identified by race, is black; whether the white default that seems to apply to the rest of the book applies also to Violet is unclear.) While present-tense narration frequently has a bland effect on fantasy, flattening time and the contours of history, here lively characters, droll humor, and steampunk-tinged worldbuilding counter the effect. The limited art available for review amplifies the spookiness. The deeply atmospheric setting is a standout.
This creepy, quirky debut trilogy opener—think H.P. Lovecraft crossed with John Bellairs—is dank, misty fun. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0722-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Walker US/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
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