An enchanting, spirited tale packed with genuine adventure for characters and readers alike.
Three young girls hope to avert a war between humans and the monsters who believe Earth is rightfully theirs in this second installment of Duffie’s (A Lanodekan Bestiary, 2016, etc.) middle-grade fantasy series.
It’s been a mere three days since 12-year-old Lillian and her best friends, Katy and Maisy, returned from monster-laden Lanodeka, where they’d gone searching for Lillian’s missing older sister, Bluebell. There, Lillian learned mom Annora is a siren and was keeping safe the Creation Stone before Bluebell stole it and took it to Lanodeka. The teen’s in cahoots with monsters planning to assault humans and take back Earth, which they shared years ago before humans began hunting them and forced them to create their own world. Spearheading the plan is evil woman-spider hybrid Arachne, who orchestrates Lillian’s kidnapping to get her special medallion. Bluebell, whose self-appointed warrior name is Lysandra, has one, too; with both medallions and the Creation Stone, Arachne can lead an army into the human world. Fortuitously, Lillian doesn’t have hers when she’s abducted. Katy, Maisy, and shape-shifting pal Jack use the medallion to open a portal to Lanodeka and save their friend. They have monster allies, but their defiance of Arachne means a civil war is imminent. Unfortunately, Arachne has the Creation Stone to make monsters so daunting that they may render her side invincible. The author fills her breezy novel with mythical beasts; griffins and dragons are familiar, while others are refreshingly unique, including shark-mouthed, squid-bodied, spike-tentacled creatures. Duffie aims the story at younger readers but incorporates incisive, mature themes. Anti-discrimination is a staple in monster-featured narratives, but other notions resonate more loudly, like the vicious elf Captain, implying every creature—even good-natured ones—has the capacity for evil. Distinctive leads complement one another: earnest Lillian, meek Katy, and charmingly sardonic Maisy. Duffie, however, spotlights all of her characters, from the distrusting Captain to each of the girls’ mothers, who occasionally bicker like their daughters. There’s also playfulness regarding expectations (some monsters aren’t quite the same as myths have asserted) and understated humor, especially with Maisy. Working a strategy to protect the medallion, she thinks to herself, “I hope I know what I’m doing.”
An enchanting, spirited tale packed with genuine adventure for characters and readers alike.Pub Date: March 16, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9904015-2-0
Page Count: 382
Publisher: Roam and Ramble
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A tightly written, fast-paced prose supernova.
Budding starship captain Ryan Thompson helps battle an alien invasion in Miller’s (The Kronos Interference, 2012) inventive sci-fi tale.
In 2012, fighter jets scrambled to intercept a UFO above Nevada’s Nellis Air Force Base. The rectangular object flew erratically, displaying no hostile behavior, and the jets followed as it crashed. Now, 150 years later, 2162 sees the United Earth Defense Fleet patrolling space, with outposts on Mars and Pluto. Cadet Ryan Thompson is a brash youth whose willingness to break the erules is matched only by his desire to win the Golden Cadet Award. Unfortunately, his brilliant ex-girlfriend Amanda just might win instead. They can’t stand each other since their romance ended the day Ryan’s mother died—a tragedy for which he blames himself. They must attempt to reconcile, however, when Earth’s fleet leaps to action against alien ships approaching from beyond Pluto. The menacing Altarrans, led by Supreme Commander Granthaxe, want something impossible—their wrecked envoys that crashed to Earth 150 years ago, perhaps with survivors. While the fleet dwindles in battle, Ryan, Amanda and their fellow cadets try to save lives with creative defense tactics. Quick thinking reveals that the strange amulet necklace Amanda wears—a family heirloom from her great-great-grandfather—may be more than it appears. With clever ideas and agile prose, Miller builds a world reminiscent of Star Trek: Ryan is a rebellious young Capt. Kirk who knows that “sometimes going by the book [isn’t] the best course to take.” Amid the pop-culture references to Star Wars and comic books, Miller’s believable, motivated characters shine, as Ryan’s brashness conflicts with Amanda’s search for peaceful solutions. In tight spots, they innovate: For instance, they create a solar-flare weapon by “overloading [a ship’s] light-speed generator and shutting it down milliseconds before detonation.” There’s also a secret connection between the Altarrans and Earth that honors the concept of a peaceful, inclusive universe. Nevertheless, right before someone survives a dose of radiation (à la Spider-Man), Ryan thinks they’re “going to need a damn super hero or something.”
A tightly written, fast-paced prose supernova.Pub Date: June 13, 2013
ISBN: 978-0615805580
Page Count: 338
Publisher: Pop Culture Zoo Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Teenage readers might be swept up in the passion between Therese and Than, though the story is unlikely to inflame any sort...
In this teen fantasy novel and love story, an orphaned girl finds herself at the center of a war brewing among the gods of Olympus.
When a book opens with a bang like this, readers might expect great things. Fifteen-year-old Therese is riding in a car with her parents when a gunman opens fire, hitting her mother and causing her father to careen off the road into a pond. Before Therese can free herself from the submerged car, she watches helplessly as both her parents die. Pohler’s (The Mystery Box, 2012, etc.) description of their deaths is gruesomely clear and heartbreaking. While Therese is still in a coma following the accident, she travels through the dream world and meets two alluring young men, Hypnos, or Hip, and Thanatos, or Than, twin sons of Hades. Hip is a cad—he says things like “Are we going to make out now, or what?”—while Than is quiet and sensitive. Than, whose job is to eternally guide the souls of the dead to the entrance of the underworld, is immediately drawn to Therese. After this fast and eventful introduction, things slow down—way, way down. Than makes a deal with his father: 40 days among humans to try to make Therese his bride, with some stiff and arbitrary conditions attached; these are Greek gods, after all. As Than and Therese flirt with one another, the story plods along with unnecessary subplots and minor characters, as well as turgid descriptions of everyday actions. Things pick up again about two-thirds of the way through: The entire pantheon of Greek gods picks sides, and, in an arena battle sure to thrill Hunger Games fans, Therese shows her mettle. The outcome neatly tees things up for the three books (at least) in the series still to come. But Pohler’s straightforward storytelling might not appeal to many teenagers, and the book’s central metaphor, a dying tree, feels like an afterthought.
Teenage readers might be swept up in the passion between Therese and Than, though the story is unlikely to inflame any sort of literary fervor.Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615685960
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Green Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 6, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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