This one’s a page-turner.
Combining a love of science fiction with modern technology and some very original thinking, this novel takes a look at some of society’s preconceived notions from a slightly off-kilter view.
Biracial English 15-year-old Ani Lee is used to taking care of herself: her Vietnamese mother is hospitalized in a mental institution after a horrible suicide attempt, and her white father is off pursuing some shady business ventures. For Ani, hacking into restricted websites is both easy and good fun, though her best friend and hacking partner is someone she’s never met. But when he sends her a secret .wav file, Ani finds out how alone in the world she really is, because now men with guns are trying to kidnap her for that file. It’s only by chance that she runs into 17-year-old Joe Dyson, a white American living in London, at an underground concert. Joe is an operative for the Youth Enforcement Task Initiative, a secret section of British Intelligence, who goes where only teens can blend in. Together, they have to solve exactly what the .wav file is, who wants it, and what makes it so important. Too many lives are at stake and someone’s pulling the strings, using music to gather the world’s youth into one massive, mindless army. But whose? The third-person narration alternates between Ani and Joe, weaving both psychological back story and futuristic sci-fi elements through the story. Though it takes its time, it never drags, parceling out plot details and worldbuilding in classic thriller fashion.
This one’s a page-turner. (Thriller. 12 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5107-0404-6
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Opening episodes of a comic-book series created by an American teacher in Japan take a leap into chapter-book format, with only partial success. Resembling—in occasional illustrations—a button-eyed, juvenile Olive Oyl, Akiko, 10, is persuaded by a pair of aliens named Bip and Bop to climb out her high-rise bedroom’s window for a trip to M&M-shaped Planet Smoo, where Prince Fropstoppit has been kidnapped by widely feared villainness Alia Rellaport. Along with an assortment of contentious sidekicks, including brainy Mr. Beeba, Akiko battles Sky Pirates and video-game-style monsters in prolonged scenes of cartoony violence, displaying resilience, courage, and leadership ability, but not getting very far in her rescue attempt; in fact, the story cuts off so abruptly, with so little of the quest completed, and at a lull in the action to boot, that readers expecting a self-contained (forget complete) story are likely to feel cheated. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 8, 2000
ISBN: 0-385-32724-2
Page Count: 162
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
This first fantastic installment of the His Dark Materials trilogy propels readers along with horror and high adventure, a...
Pullman (The Tin Princess, 1994, etc.) returns to the familiar territory of Victorian England, but this time inhabits an alternate Earth, where magic is an ordinary fact of life.
Lyra Belacqua and her daemon familiar Pantalaimon spend their days teasing the scholars of Jordan College until her uncle, Lord Asriel, announces that he's learned of astonishing events taking place in the far north involving the aurora borealis. When Lyra rescues Asriel from an attempt on his life, it is only the beginning of a torrent of events that finds Lyra willingly abducted by the velvet Mrs. Coulter, a missionary of pediatric atrocities; a journey with gyptian clansmen to rescue the children who are destined to be severed from their daemons (an act that is clearly hideous); and Lyra's discovery of her unusual powers and destiny. Lyra may suffer from excessive spunk, but she is thorough, intelligent, and charming. The author's care in recreating Victorian speech affectations never hinders the action; copious amounts of gore will not dissuade the squeamish, for resonating at the story's center is the twinkling image of a celestial city.
This first fantastic installment of the His Dark Materials trilogy propels readers along with horror and high adventure, a shattering tale that begins with a promise and delivers an entire universe. (Fiction. 12+)Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 978-0-679-87942-4
Page Count: 397
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1996
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