A terrifying, somewhat confused reworking of a familiar theme: When Kevin Midas, smallest kid in class, finds a talisman that grants wishes but can't reverse them, events quickly escape his control. Inspired by a legend of magic, Kevin, his friend Josh, bully Bertram Tarson, and Bertram's brain-free sidekick Hal race to the top of a mountain. Kevin, who arrives first, finds a pair of sporty sunglasses that give him anything he wants, from a Lamborghini to forcing Bertram to jump into the lake. There are, however, insidious side effects: like a drug, the shades bring both exaltation and increasing exhaustion; worse, they undermine the structure of reality so that 2+2=3, the sun sets in the east, and only the original four (three, after Kevin, in a fit of rage, tells Bertram to go to hell) notice anything unusual. Horrified, Kevin takes the glasses back to the mountaintop, where the original race is re-created with a different, disappointingly innocuous, ending: our familiar universe is reconstituted and everyone forgets the whole episode. The story resembles Beatrice Gormley's tales of magic gone wrong, but it's much more sobering: The frequent gags and gaffes seem pale compared to the nightmarish plot; and it's hard to know whether to laugh at—or be chilled by—Kevin's predicament. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-316-77542-8
Page Count: 185
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1992
Loose ends are tied up with almost painful tidiness in Lee’s (Wolf Star, 2001, etc.) third entry in the series. After commandeering the Star to return her to the nomadic Hulta and their leader, her beloved Argul, Claidi is crushed by the tribe’s rejection, blaming her for the brokenhearted Argul’s abdication. Determined to set things right, Claidi tracks Argul to the frozen north, pursued in turn by the sinister Jelly, an apparent agent of Wolf Tower. But Argul, when found, spurns Claidi coldly, and beats Jelly senseless; Claidi and Jelly are carried off by the Lady Winter Raven to the icy fastness of Raven Tower, Wolf Tower’s rival. There, Claidi receives a royal welcome—and finally faces the mother who abandoned her. Yet nobody in this convoluted plot turns out to be who they seem, and it takes all of Claidi’s irrepressible independence to sort through the layers of subterfuge and claim her own destiny. Although most of the wonder here comes from Lee’s mysteriously evocative settings, Claidi remains a feisty, irreverent heroine, and her diary charms with its cheeky tone. But while racing through the episodic plot, Lee barely sketches in the remaining characters, and her efforts to wrap up the dangling threads of Claidi’s melodramatic adventures render this volume incomprehensible to new readers. Even with the clumsy chunks of exposition plopped at the end, the nature of Claidi’s world is still muddled, and her future unclear. Still, this lightweight confection provides some essential closure. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-525-46895-1
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2002
Monet's Ghost (151 pp.; $17.00; Jun. 1, 1997; 0-689-80732-5): More fantasy from Yarbro (for adults, Writ in Blood, p. 686, etc.), this time about a teenager who transports herself inside Monet's Water Lilies. Geena's gift for slipping ``sideways'' into museum paintings becomes a burden when she enters Monet's masterpiece and cannot get out. There she encounters the priggish Crispin and his aunt, Lucrece, and learns that a ``ghost'' haunts their castle, changing their clothing, buildings, hair, and landscapes on a whim. Geena, in an attempt to find her way out of the painting and learn more about the ghost, meets Monet and asks him to paint her an exit. Yarbro tosses out many intriguing ideas and dwells on none for long; the playful proposition—that an art-lover can put herself into the paintings, literally as well as figuratively—may lure readers in, but will not hold them. (b&w illustrations) (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: June 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-689-80732-5
Page Count: 151
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1997
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