A quick and absorbing combination of swashbuckling, steampunk, and supernatural mystery.
An orphan boy is swept up in an adventure with magic and pirates.
Bert Rumsey is teased for his interest in adventure and magic by other children in the boarding school where a mysterious man in a cloak left him as a small child. A school visit to a museum devoted to a kind of revisionist history—meant to affirm the government of Penvellyn’s position that magic never really existed—sets off a chain of events that has Bert fleeing for his life, beset by a wound that connects him to both a magical power and a magical spirit. Professor Roberts, a former explorer–turned-pirate, and his daughter, Finch, help Bert to escape the clutches of Prince Voss, whose hunger for power has taken him into a dark, forbidden study of magic. Debut author Winter moves the characters somewhat breathlessly from one dramatic moment to the next while carefully reserving a few surprises about Bert’s relationships that add poignancy and depth to the narrative as they are revealed. Cinematic action scenes include a fight atop a train being lifted by cables up a mountain and a battle between airships along with some swordplay and hand-to-hand combat. A reanimated army of creepy skeletons in the shell of a wrecked airship ups the spooky element. The book seems to subscribe to the white default.
A quick and absorbing combination of swashbuckling, steampunk, and supernatural mystery. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-21714-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Chicken House/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship.
A young tennis champion becomes the target of revenge.
In this sequel to Legacy and the Queen (2019), Legacy Petrin and her friends Javi and Pippa have returned to Legacy’s home province and the orphanage run by her father. With her friends’ help, she is in training to defend her championship when they discover that another player, operating under the protection of High Consul Silla, is presenting herself as Legacy. She is so convincing that the real Legacy is accused of being an imitation. False Legacy has become a hero to the masses, further strengthening Silla’s hold, and it becomes imperative to uncover and defeat her. If Legacy is to win again, she must play her imposter while disguised as someone else. Winning at tennis is not just about money and fame, but resisting Silla’s plans to send more young people into brutal mines with little hope of better lives. Legacy will have to overcome her fears and find the magic that allowed her to claim victory in the past. This story, with its elements of sports, fantasy, and social consciousness that highlight tensions between the powerful and those they prey upon, successfully continues the series conceived by late basketball superstar Bryant. As before, the tennis matches are depicted with pace and spirit. Legacy and Javi have brown skin; most other characters default to White.
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-949520-19-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Granity Studios
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
Thrills galore for gamers willing to go along for the ride.
A new virtual-reality theme park goes haywire on a crowd of young victims, er, visitors in Alexander’s latest screamfest.
Having scored one of just 100 coveted preview tickets to a cutting-edge, kids-only venue dubbed ESCAPE, budding amusement park fan and designer Cody Baxter is looking forward to a life-changing experience. What he gets is more of a life-threatening one, as games and rides with names like Triassic Terror and Haunted Hillside not only pit him against a monster and then zombies—or sometimes a monster and zombies—as well as ruthless competing players, but seem tailored to play on individual personal terrors. And, in some never explained way, the VR quickly turns into real battles that inflict real wounds even as the real settings shift with sudden, dizzying unpredictability. Teaming up with loyal new friends Jayson Torn and Inga Andersdottir, the former described as being Japanese and White and the latter as Norwegian, Cody (who seems to default to White) struggles for survival, learning ultimately that ESCAPE was created by an evil genius with an ulterior motive who is convinced that he can teach children a salutary lesson. The plot’s no more logical in its twists and contrivances than the premise, but the author’s knack for spinning out nightmarish situations is definitely on display here as the tale careens toward a properly lurid outcome.
Thrills galore for gamers willing to go along for the ride. (Light horror. 9-12)Pub Date: June 7, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-26047-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2022
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