This fast-paced chapter book has the action that many new readers crave and rarely find on the bookshelves for their age...
A colossal, mysterious dog protects an ancient Roman family from marauding Volgoths.
Young Gabriel has his bow and arrow ready: He is proud to go with his father, Marcus, into the Crimson Forest, on the lookout for evil forces that have been terrorizing travelers. And he soon gets the action he is looking for: Terrifying Volgoths appear—stand-ins for the Visigoths who invaded the Roman Empire in the late 4th century. The Volgoths are deliciously frightening, with beating bat wings on their helmets, giant red-eyed weasels at their command, and skulls and femurs clutched in their powerful hands. This will satisfy many young readers’ thirst for real action, for monsters and villains that are truly scary, and for dangerous, life-and-death situations. De Vosjoli (Popular Amphibians (Advanced Vivarium Systems), 2012, etc.) delivers all that and more—but leaves out the blood and gore: When a villain dies on the battlefield, he’s dragged underground, and when a spear dispatches a giant weasel, it melts into a black ooze. In the heat of the battle, an enormous dog appears—the eponymous Atticus Rex—to save the outnumbered Romans. While action—arrows zing and swords swing on nearly every page—takes precedence over character development, young Gabriel is very much like the 7-, 8-, and 9-year-olds the book is aimed at. He wants to fight alongside his father, but he also sleeps with the candle lit or while clutching the protective amulet of Atticus Rex his father unearths. Two minor quibbles: While Marcus and Titus are very believable names for Roman citizens in the 4th century, Gabriel, Miriam and Charlie are not. And, when Marcus is called to “the front” (mostly out of narrative necessity), young readers are unlikely to understand that phrase without any context. Otherwise, the story is intelligently written and explains just as much as its target audience might need.
This fast-paced chapter book has the action that many new readers crave and rarely find on the bookshelves for their age group.Pub Date: Nov. 19, 2012
ISBN: 978-0974297170
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Advanced Visions Inc.
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A nostalgic, authentic novel that charms with its vintage hue.
Brown’s debut novel recounts how a young woman’s murder affects the lives of childhood friends.
In the early-20th century, three adolescent boys—Nickels, Kurt and Charlie—are the most loyal of chums. They each face their share of hardships, but none so difficult as Nickels’ father’s imprisonment for a murder he didn’t commit. The man was a father to all three boys; Charlie’s dad is a hapless drunk, and Kurt lost his father at a young age to pneumonia. Life goes on, inside and outside prison walls, until the friends learn that revenge against the real killer is in sight. The account is narrated by Nicky’s granddaughter, who gathered the information from her family. This approach adds a sense of authenticity and casts the tale as a recollection. Characters seem to arrive already defined, as they would in memory. The three boys are the indisputable heroes, and the villains are blatantly evil—Russell Cantrell, a rich lawyer who’s introduced as he accuses someone else for a crime he committed (he’s only 13 at the time), and his assistant/chauffeur, Voigt, whose hands are dirty almost from the get-go. The murder is incidental to the narrative, and the murderer’s identity is never really in question. Still, a generous amount of suspense comes with the revelation of the victim’s name and the exact date and location of the murder. The novel recreates an era as it follow the boys’ lives from World War I through their adulthood and into the Great Depression. Several issues faced by the characters are still relevant today, such as corruption and bigotry—Nicky and his Polish family are often vulgarly called “Polacks.” But it is the portrayal of real-world history—the height of Prohibition, the early days of cinema—that makes the book such a gem.
A nostalgic, authentic novel that charms with its vintage hue.Pub Date: May 11, 2012
ISBN: 978-0985439118
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Woodchuck Publishers
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A thought-provoking thriller.
In Folsom’s novel, the Saudis and the Americans team up to thwart Iran’s attempt to build a nuclear bomb.
What will happen if Iran successfully develops a nuclear warhead? This question, which usually vexes presidential candidates and U.N. diplomats, drives Folsom’s fast-paced follow-up to his previous novel (The Pareto Spread, 2006). As scientists in Iran drive relentlessly toward completion of the nuclear technology that will give them a bomb, powerful figures in the U.S. and the Middle East fear that the Iranians’ pursuit will set off an arms race that will throw the Arab world into chaos and endanger global stability. Hoping to avert catastrophe, members of the Saudi royal family risk it all on “Peaceful Eagle,” a dangerous gambit that will deliver either peace or destruction. A Cold War-era bomb lies hundreds of feet below the ground in North Carolina, and the Saudis contract with the New Democratic Right—a semi-covert American paramilitary group—to extract the warhead. If necessary, the Saudis plan to detonate the device preemptively in Iran, scuttling the country’s nuclear ambitions and avoiding all-out war. Meanwhile, Robert Faircloth, an NDR operative, is working his way through the Middle East in an effort to contact the Iranian mullahs, warn them of the impending danger and resolve the crisis diplomatically. The tension mounts as these figures and others race to a startling conclusion. Folsom’s novel is full of satisfying twists and intrigues; Tom Clancy would be proud. Further, the author is clearly conversant in international politics, Arab cultural norms and the intricacies of global religion. His knowledge lends his novel a realistic look and feel, and his expansive familiarity with current events gives it an up-to-the-minute realism. Best of all, while his plot moves forward at breakneck speed, he never sacrifices character development for pace. All of his major players are fully realized people, not just pawns in an international chess match.
A thought-provoking thriller.Pub Date: May 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-1469966342
Page Count: 274
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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