Though flashy at first glance, barely a glimmer next to Dugald Steer’s Dragonology (2003) or Graeme Base’s Discovery of...
Scaly monsters preen, glower fiercely, and soar grandly in this introduction to dragon kind and care.
Saxton (Book of Mermaids, 2005; Book of Fairies, 2009) mixes elaborately worked painted images with doses of dragon lore but not enough of either to provide more than momentary diversion. A promising opening scenario featuring a crusty old dragon hunter is abruptly abandoned. Following that comes a tally of dragon types by habitat (“Caelum Dragons” on mountains, “Terras Dragons” on sea cliffs, etc.) and then increasingly scanty notes on how dragons are recognized, slain, tamed, and used for medicinal purposes. (It’s no wonder they “went into hiding” some centuries ago.) Only fitfully are these factoids linked to the illustrations, which are not only placed more or less arbitrarily throughout, but tend to show dragon heads, claws, or other details rather than full-body views. Photographed or photorealistically rendered herbs, jars, and scraps of paper with notes or sketches serve as filler. Aside from a perfunctory section on “Dragon Whisperers” and some momentarily arresting visuals, there is little here to draw dragon lovers out of their lairs.
Though flashy at first glance, barely a glimmer next to Dugald Steer’s Dragonology (2003) or Graeme Base’s Discovery of Dragons (1996). (Informational fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: June 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-934860-18-2
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Shenanigan
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2016
A yarn as full of magic and intrigue as any fairy tale or pirate song.
Two friends team up to save their town from an ancient supernatural evil in this suspenseful middle-grade novel.
In his latest work, Smith (The Owls Have Come To Take Us Away, 2019, etc.) weaves together an eerie adventure narrative as nail-biting and mysterious as Roald Dahl’s The Witches. Set in a downtrodden seaside town appropriately named Gloom, the tale follows a single mother and her son. Desperate to help in the endless struggle to make ends meet, Rory, a young dark-skinned biracial boy who takes after his father instead of his white mother, regards a job notice advertising a valet position at the opulent Foxglove Manor as a godsend. He’s so eager he overlooks the townwide speculation that the manor contains some malevolent spirit. Before long, Rory can no longer ignore the sinister butler whose face looks inhuman, the mysterious dinner guests who aren’t served food yet leave behind a pile of bones with the marrow sucked out, and a human heart found buried in the back garden. When Lord Foxglove, his enigmatic employer, discovers Rory snooping, he is forced to flee for his life. Together with best friend Izzy, a white girl who lives next door, Rory sets out to unravel the mystery of the manor and save Gloom from whatever lurks inside. Anchoring this well-paced story is a solid cast of characters whose central relationships feel authentic and grounded.
A yarn as full of magic and intrigue as any fairy tale or pirate song. (Suspense. 10-12)Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-328-84161-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
A die-cut cover scene and Margiotta’s chapter-head views of huge-eyed gamins posing in canted settings add to the pervasive...
In a sequel that cycles around the same track as the opener, Castro sheds light on the past and nature of the aptly named Gloom mansion and the saturnine lad who lives there alone with armies of animate shadows.
Just as in Gustav Gloom and the People Taker (2012), Fernie What, recently moved into the house across the street, joins her new friend Gustav in a long flight through the eerie mansion’s seemingly endless halls and rooms. They are pursued this time by October, a relentless shadow- (and people-) eating creature disguised as a decrepit ice-cream man (spooky!) who is after the hidden, ominously named Nightmare Vault. Despite quick visits to a Gallery of the Almost Famous, a prison for evil shadows and like quirky locales, the chase turns tedious as the children pass through dozens of doorways and up or down more dozens of flights of stairs on the way to a climactic, predictably resolved face-off. Along the way, between moments of contrived melodrama, Gustav drops needlessly strung-out revelations that explain the house’s origins, his lack of parents and other mysteries.
A die-cut cover scene and Margiotta’s chapter-head views of huge-eyed gamins posing in canted settings add to the pervasive air of strangeness, but it’s still a slog. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: April 18, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-448-45834-2
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
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