Adapted from the author's bestselling adult title Lion of Ireland (1980), about the charismatic man who united the Irish under his rule in the tenth century. Brian mac Kennedy, the youngest son of a minor Irish prince, is a carefree child until his mother is murdered and their home destroyed in a Viking raid. The bereft ten-year-old is sent to be educated in a monastery. There he learns the lessons of history and trains himself as both warrior and scholar. He grows into an imposing figure, a brilliant military tactician, and a natural leader. His goals change: No longer content to chase the Vikings from Ireland, he wants to subdue the fighting Irish clans and let the nation live in peace. He succeeds and ultimately becomes High King of the Irish. The story ends in 1014, with Brian Boru fighting his last battle to save the hard-won kingdom. Llywelyn, like the chroniclers of the time, makes no attempt to draw her hero with human flaws. She does, however, endow him with emotions, and the book's most convincing moments are tragic onesthe ten-year-old crying over his mother's body, the elderly Boru hearing of his son's death in battle. A satisfying tale of majesty and magic. (b&w illustrations, not seen) (Fiction. 12+)
Pub Date: June 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-312-85623-7
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
Decades after the events of The Forest of Hands and Teeth (2009), teenager Gabry lives in relative safety. Despite the Barrier keeping the ravaging zombies out of town, Gabry is a terrified homebody who wants only to stay sheltered with her mother, the refugee heroine of Forest. Her nervousness is justified; when Gabry is peer-pressured into sneaking past the Barrier for a night of adolescent rebellion, several of her friends are zombified. (One wonders, if teens sneaking out for a snog is so dangerous to society, how there any humans left at all.) The ensuing chaos sends Gabry into the wilderness where, encumbered by revelations about love and family, she encounters zombie-worshiping cultists, the dangerous remnants of the army and her own past. Whatever comes between Gabry and her mother, there’s one thing they definitely have in common: Like her mother, Gabry experiences an angst-ridden, gloomy love triangle while fleeing from zombie hordes in the forest’s depths. Fast-paced despite the mawkish romance, it will be gobbled up by fans of the first volume like brains. (Horror. 12-14)
Pub Date: March 9, 2010
ISBN: 970-0-385-73684-8
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2010
This story presents an alien invasion from two unique viewpoints. Megs is 12, trapped alone in the parking garage of a Los Angeles hotel, forced to scrounge for food and water while avoiding alien spaceships outside and security guards who have taken over the hotel with vicious disregard for the safety of their “guests” inside. Josh is about to turn 16, trapped in his house in Washington state with his father and dog, watching their world being slowly but surely destroyed, day after day, from his living-room window. Both have to deal with supplies that shrink with every rationed meal. No phones, no radio or television, no electricity and no ability to step out of shelter without being “deleted”—this is a new world that only the truly brave can exist in. Written in short chapters that alternate between Megs and Josh, this masterful debut grabs readers by the throat from the first page and never lets go. It is clear at the end that there’s a lot more story to tell, and one can only hope that a sequel is not far behind. (Science fiction. 12 & up)
Pub Date: April 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-60898-011-6
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Namelos
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2010
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