High-concept science, rapid-fire but sometimes sloppy writing, stiff dialogue, shallow characters, and plenty of action:...
Don’t be fooled by Gaiman’s name on the cover: This is a slightly pedestrian if not unsatisfying bit of science-fictional fluff.
InterWorld started as a television concept by Gaiman and Reaves, and the first volume (InterWorld, 2007) harked back to the golden age of science fiction, when the science was mostly made-up jargon (and not entirely logical), and the characters showed a tendency toward tropes. This second volume continues where the first left off, compounding the liabilities of the first by mixing a middle-grade tone uneasily with some older content: The teens who make up most of the InterWorld organization are, in the end, child soldiers, and they are woefully underprepared for death, which comes calling. Joey Harker (he’d rather be called Joe now that he’s 16) finds himself once again at the center of things when the mysterious Acacia Jones shows up during a mission gone wrong. She’s not an alternative version of Joey (of which there are many), and she knows an awful lot. Meanwhile, the newest Walker (navigator of the multiverse) is everyone’s darling, and Joey must grapple with jealousy and the first stirrings of romantic interest, even as everything, literally, falls apart.
High-concept science, rapid-fire but sometimes sloppy writing, stiff dialogue, shallow characters, and plenty of action: old-fashioned science fiction indeed, dressed up to appeal to a modern audience. (Science fiction. 10-15)Pub Date: April 23, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-206796-8
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2013
In vibrant language and with great energy, Pierce spins out the story of Sandry (Circle of Magic, 1997) for the Circle Opens quartet. At 14, Lady Sandrilene—Sandry—has endured the loss of her family, danger, and tragedy, but she has mastered her magic, which she can spin and knot and weave like thread. She’s staying with her great uncle, the Duke, trying to keep him from overwork after an illness, and cheering him with her spirit and sharp mind. She will exert both in the face of two events: a family of unscrupulous merchants is being slaughtered under the very noses of their protectors; and a local boy named Pasco is mightily resisting his own magic. Sandry must begin to teach Pasco, and does so by enlisting her own teacher and one of the most famous dancers of the realm. While there is darkness and violence, Sandry works with strength and confidence to overcome them, secure in the love of her uncle and her teachers. It ends well, and with the promise of more stirring tales to come. (Fiction. 10-13)
Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-590-39588-2
Page Count: 261
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Strong on platform, the result is more fiction-seasoned cookbook than recipe-studded novel, best suited for precocious cooks...
When not at school, taking cooking classes or working in her family’s roti shop in Queens, Anjali, 13, dreams of becoming the Food Network’s youngest chef.
When she’s chosen to audition for Super Chef Kids on the Food Network, she has a chance to make her dream come true, but there’s a problem. Her Trinidadian-immigrant parents want Anjali to take the Stuyvesant High School entrance exam, which happens to coincide with the audition. After they insist she drop the audition, Anjali hatches a plan with her best friend, Linc, to go to the audition instead. In her fiction debut, the author reveals a gift for creating compact, vivid character portraits, yet whenever the plot shows signs of taking off, she marches it back to the kitchen. Taking up about 20 percent of the book, the recipes (some appear in Ganeshram’s cookbook of Trinidadian cuisine) are intriguing. But while enticing for foodies, most assume considerable culinary know-how. Some ingredients—callaloo leaves, fresh cassava, mixed essence—may be a hard sell for young readers and hard to locate outside cosmopolitan urban centers.
Strong on platform, the result is more fiction-seasoned cookbook than recipe-studded novel, best suited for precocious cooks open to culinary adventure. (recipes, author’s note) (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-545-16582-2
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
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