Third in a series that began with Dragon's Gold and Serpent's Silver, featuring a prophecy, a young hero, and several parallel magical worlds—in short, the familiar Anthony formula. Kelvin Knight Hackleberry (our hero), along with his half-brother and their father, takes a transporter trip that ends up on the wrong parallel world, where they are instantly captured by the froglike locals and turned over to the man-eating Chimaera. Meanwhile, good King Rufert has been banished by the wicked sorceress Zoanna and replaced by King Rowforth, who looks exactly like him except for the shape of his ears (the only way to tell natives of different "planes" apart). Can Kelvin escape the Chimaera in time to stop evil Rowforth from conquering the world? Given the lifeless writing, and a pack of banal characters who invariably do something stupid at a crucial point in the story, not many readers are likely to care. A very flat performance; the ending promises at least one more installment.
Pub Date: May 21, 1990
ISBN: 0586212477
Page Count: 311
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1990
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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