The weak plot doesn’t really bear up under its instructional load, but there’s enough farce to keep the lessons well-greased.
Caving to the demands of his pesky little sister Maggie, aspiring fictioneer Josh’s second fantasy story features a world with mermaids and unicorns. Sort of.
The devil's in the details, though, and just as in the series opener (Escape From Planet Yastol, 2011) the two find themselves stranded in an actual, newly made reality based on Josh's tale but inhabited by toothy, twisted versions of the residents he has inexpertly envisioned. Furthermore, during the ensuing series of captures and escapes, Josh and Maggie are joined by no fewer than five different kinds of creatures, each of whom turns out to be a youngest child afflicted with bossy parents and scornful older sibs. The plot is no more than a set of loosely connected set pieces, but readers may find the burgeoning corps of somehow–familiar-sounding furred, scaled, winged, finny and even stone whiners amusing, and budding writers may take both Service’s indirect advice about verbal precision and her embedded examples of Theme, Composition, Character Development and Revision to heart. Gorman’s angular figures of grotesque aliens and their frantic-looking creator in various predicaments goose up the comic overtones.
The weak plot doesn’t really bear up under its instructional load, but there’s enough farce to keep the lessons well-greased. (Science fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7613-7919-5
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Darby Creek
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2012
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
If not as effervescent as Roz’s first outing, it is still a provocatively contemplative one.
Roz, a robot who learned to adapt to life among wild creatures in her first outing, seeks to return to the island she calls home.
Brown’s sequel to The Wild Robot(2016) continues an intriguing premise: What would happen to a robot after challenges in an unexpected environment cause it to evolve in unusual ways? As this book opens, Roz is delivered to a farm where she helps a widower with two young children run a dairy operation that has been in his family for generations. Roz reveals her backstory to the cows, who are supportive of the robot’s determination to return to the island and to her adopted son, the goose Brightbill. The cows, the children, and finally Brightbill himself come to Roz’s aid. The focus on Roz’s escape from human control results in a somewhat solemn and episodic narrative, with an extended journey and chase after Roz leaves the farm. Dr. Molovo, a literal deus ex machina, appears near the end of the story to provide a means of rescue. She is Roz’s designer/creator, and, intrigued by the robot’s adaptation and evolution but cognizant of the threat that those achievements might represent to humans, she assists Roz and Brightbill in their quest. The satisfactory (if inevitable-feeling) conclusion may prompt discussion about individual agency and determination, whether for robots or people.
If not as effervescent as Roz’s first outing, it is still a provocatively contemplative one. (Fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: March 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-38204-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
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