Readers will root for this STEM-focused girl hero.
Young roboticist Efi dreams of creating a better life for her community, where omnics and humans live peacefully, in this novel inspired by the video game “Overwatch.”
Efi spends so many hours in her workshop ironing out bugs in her robots that her mother worries she isn’t connecting enough with best friends Naade and Hassana. But her work pays off when Efi wins the Genius Grant given out by her idol, Gabrielle Adawe, who founded both the organization Overwatch and the African city of Numbani. On the way to Rio de Janeiro to celebrate, Doomfist, who should be in prison, attacks the airport. The destruction left in Doomfist’s wake spurs Efi to put her grant money toward developing Orisa, a compassionate robot that can protect the city she loves. The immense pressure of this project strains the three friends’ relationship, forcing Efi to go it alone. While Efi teaches Orisa to integrate into Numbani, Orisa teaches her about responsibility and friendship—and as Doomfist provokes discord between omnics and humans, Efi, Naade, and Hassana must come together to save Numbani. Drayden (Escaping Exodus, 2019, etc.) gives Efi a clear voice in this engrossing read with smooth pacing and action-packed scenes. The main storyline is tied up enough to keep readers satisfied but interested in the sequel; readers don’t need to be familiar with the video game to understand the book. All characters are black.
Readers will root for this STEM-focused girl hero. (Science fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-57597-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A formulaic skeleton without any meat on its bones.
Lupa seeks revenge for the destruction of her village.
Lupa has arrived at the Inner Light monastery with her wolf companion, Coras. Convinced the monks there are the ones who killed her family, Lupa attacks, but she is disarmed and faced with a devastating truth. The Empress Salkis, fearing a prophecy that eight children would dethrone her, sought to kill them and disguised her assassins as monks so as to erode the girls’ trust in the very people who were destined to train them to fight against her. With her sister Kita dead, Lupa must take both her own place and Kita’s in this celestial sisterhood. The additional burden weighs heavily on her, and she has difficulty keeping her destructive tendencies in check. While fighting off an assassin, Lupa accidentally lights the monastery on fire, and after warning the others, she decides to leave on her own and go discover her true self. The story moves so quickly that there is little room for character development, making the narrative feel thin. This is not helped by multiple time skips jumping over years of character growth and resulting in a disjointed, breakneck pace that doesn’t give events room to breathe. The story opens with a brief recap of the first volume, making this entry accessible to new readers. The classic comic–style art is dynamic, highlighting a cast that is racially diverse.
A formulaic skeleton without any meat on its bones. (storyboards, character profiles) (Graphic fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 9781681160993
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Legendary Comics YA
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
A drab, mechanical remake.
A graphic adaptation of the series opener carries humani twins Sophie and Josh into their first encounters with magic plus hordes of mythological and undead beings and creatures.
Events follow the general course of those in the original, and Andelfinger preserves enough of the significant dialogue to capture the flavor of Scott’s language—but that’s not enough to rescue this reworking. Lacking captions to smooth transitions or explain what’s happening, the visuals just string together scenes in which the pacing turns herky-jerky and talky banter or explication overflows up or sideways into adjacent panels in often hard-to-follow sequences. Dialogue balloons throughout point to characters who are sometimes depicted with closed mouths and wooden features and also frequently shown as (non)talking heads or just standing around with arms hanging loosely, reacting in overly exaggerated ways, or posed with cocked hips like flirtatious fashion models. The magic that Flamel and John Dee hurl at each other in the opening duel looks (and sounds: “Hiss!” “Pop!” “Zzzzk!”) like sprays of effervescent, colored mist. That battle, like the later ones with cat goddess Bastet’s minions and Dee’s army of zombies, are tableaux with neither visual coherence nor any sense of flow. Some characters, such as the goth teen/immortal warrior Scathach and regal Hekate (the only person of color in the cast), do look suitably powerful, but overall, this whole episode has the look and feel of a stiff walk-through.
A drab, mechanical remake. (Graphic fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2023
ISBN: 9780593304679
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
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