A clever coming-of-age tale with a steampunk edge.
A 12-year-old boy discovers his true fate when he enrolls in an elite military academy in Jaime’s middle-grade fantasy novel.
Hermium Goodspeed has something that thousands of kids his age want: an acceptance letter to one of the elite Seven Thunder military schools. However, Hermium is more nervous than he is excited; he doubts he'll fit in at the school, because he’s scrawny, shy, and tends to sleepwalk. He’d much rather stay home and tinker with household objects and tools, turning them into little contraptions like a cow-milker and a bedmaker; he even makes things while sleeping. Hermium’s school troubles begin before the transportation ship even sets sail when he’s given a second acceptance letter, changing his placement from the Hammerfeld academy, where he’d learn to wield a deadly Woe Hammer, to Glimmeroc. There, he’ll train as an airjock and learn how to fly with a pair of wings called an Aeriatis. A second acceptance letter is unheard of, and it sets Hermium apart from the other students—and not in a good way. As he undergoes the rigorous summer bootcamp, he finds himself under intense scrutiny from Glimmeroc’s faculty and his peers and becomes more determined than ever to earn his place. However, there are monsters at Glimmeroc—and they’re hunting Hermium. Desperate to understand why, the preteen learns that his destiny is very different than he thought. Jaime’s series starter is an intriguing coming-of-age story in a magical steampunk fantasy setting. Readers will be enthralled by the author’s meticulous and detailed worldbuilding. Hermium is clever, snarky, and brave, even as he copes with health issues—chronic headaches, the aforementioned sleepwalking, and frequent nightmares. The supporting characters are also intriguing and well-developed, including Hermium’s new friends Tayori Keelaroo and Duma Petalborn, the antagonistic Cadet Sgt. Neffery Iggsworth, and even a group of demigods. Some fall into very familiar types—Duma as the academically driven know-it-all, Tayori as the loyal best friend, and Wuvi Wuvain as the bully with a well-connected father—but the novel remains an exciting read, nonetheless.
A clever coming-of-age tale with a steampunk edge.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2025
ISBN: 9798989706662
Page Count: 304
Publisher: World of Thunders Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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